All-Party Meet On Babli Today

After months of commotion from leading opposition parties, the state government is finally convening an all-party meeting to discuss the Babli project issue today.

At the meeting, measures to be taken in the face of the Supreme Court's ruling, that the Babli dam not be demolished, will be discussed. It is also expected that the ruling party, owing to Mahrashtra's cooperation in another prestigious irrigation project, the Pranahita Chevella, will try its best to play down the alleged damage that could be wreaked by the Babli.

Already, several ministers, including the CM, have said that the construction of the Babli will in no way hamper Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, the SC, which said that the Babli cannot be demolished now that Rs. 200 crores of tax money has been spent on it, has also ordered the Central govenrment to constitute that trisabhya Committee. The purpose of this committee will be to safeguard the interests of Andhra Pradesh by ensuring that not more than 2.74 TMC of water is utilised by the Babli from the river Godavari, so that the rest flows into the Sriram Sagar project in Andhra Pradesh.

However, opposition parties contend that the construction of this project will turn about 18 lakh acres of land in the Telangana region into a barren desert. TRS, which has already named its delegates to the all-party meet, says that the Congress party agreeing to an all-party meeting on the issue at this late stage, when nothing can actually be done to the Babli, is nothing more than a smokescreen to its intention of garnering sympathy from the Telangana region.