A.P. Congress Committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy asserted that the Congress would not hesitate to move the court against the illegal projects on Krishna river taken up by the Telangana government, if the State government remained nonchalant on the issue.
Leading a mass dharna near Srisailam dam in Kurnool district, the APCC president accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of mortgaging the irrigation interests of the State by conniving with his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao in order to absolve himself from the ‘cash-for-vote’ scam. “How can a responsible Chief Minister turn a blind eye to the Telangana government allocating Rs. 7,000 crore to Palamuru Ranga Reddy lift irrigation project and Rs. 600 crore to Dindi (Nakkalagandi) project, which envisage drawal of 160 tmcft of water from Srisailam reservoir?” Mr. Raghuveera Reddy remarked. The projects lacked permissions from the Central Water Commission, Krishna River Management Board and Apex Council, but tenders were called and finalised.
The Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi, Galeru Nagari, Telugu Ganga and Velugodu projects would run dry depriving 48.24 lakh acres of irrigation badly affecting the four districts of Rayalaseema, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore and Prakasam district, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said. He advised Mr. Naidu to complain to the CWC, the Krishna River Management Board and the Apex Council, in order to protect the interests of the State. Mr. Naidu should lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, he suggested.
APCC vice-president N. Thulasi Reddy recalled that the Congress represented the issue to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in June 2015 and Mr. Raghuveera Reddy had written to Mr. Chandrababu Naidu in January this year on the issue, but they failed to act.
Raghuveera Reddy accuses Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of mortgaging the irrigation interests of the State by conniving with his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao
