The Telangana Congress has questioned the motive of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in holding a Cabinet meet on Wednesday while refusing to go for the Apex Council meeting on the Krishna river on the same day as called by the Central government to discuss the issue with both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments.
In an open letter to the Chief Minister, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and convenor of TPCC Committee on Krishna river waters T. Rammohan Reddy said that the CM was deliberately avoiding the meeting in New Delhi and his behaviour would be a huge loss to Telangana for generations to come. “Is the Cabinet meet more important than the Central government meeting on Krishna river water issue,” they asked.
Mr. Uttam Reddy said the CM could have had the Cabinet meeting a day earlier or after the Apex Council meeting but he deliberately avoiding the meeting is raising suspicion among people that he is favouring the neighbouring AP at the cost of Telangana. He said the AP government’s decision to draw 80,000 cusecs from Pothireddypadu per day and also to draw 3 TMC ft of water daily from Sangameshwar will defeat the very purpose of Telangana and the government’s silence on it is more dangerous.
The TPCC chief asked why is the government allowing AP to draw almost 6 TMC of water that flows with gravity into Telangana while boasting of spending ₹ 1 lakh crore on Kaleshwaram to draw 2 TMC ft per day from Godavari. This defies all logic and the CM must answer the people, he said.
If the AP government goes ahead with the construction as it has already finalised the contracts, projects in Telangana districts of Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Rangareddy will be severely affected and they will turn into desert.
The letter also recalled that Krishna River Management Board has written two letters to the AP government and without replying to them it has gone ahead with the tender process for its new projects. It further reminded that the Chief Minister in an official press release on May 11 this year promised to take up relentless fight against the projects. However, on the ground the government has neither gone to the Supreme Court as assured to stop the project or is attending the meeting called by the Central government.
