MIM Forces CM Go To Delhi On Babli

An attack on the government by its ally, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, forced Chief Minister K Rosaiah to announce that he will lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a bid to pressurise the centre to halt the ongoing illegal constructions across the rivers Krishna and Godavari by the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Rosaiah said that the delegation would leave for the national capital after the monsoon session of the assembly concludes.

The Chief Minister's assurance came in after the MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi expressed his party's strong displeasure over the 'inadequate' efforts of the government to stop the ongoing illegal work on the river Godavari by the Maharashtra government.

Owaisi pointed out that the memo issued by the government on the matter was a repetition of the earlier memo on the subject issued over 3 years earlier, save the addition of a couple of paragraphs.

The MIM floor leader queried if the situation on the river remained the same during the past 3 years since the memo suggested so.

Owaisi further accused the government of being lax on the issue, and said that this was proved by the memo. He said that any government which could be lax about such a "simple thing as a memo" would be lax about the issue, too.

The MIM leader also expressed his apprehension that crores of rupees of public money would be wasted on the irrigation projects taken up by the state government in the name of Jalayagnam. He said that the irrigation projects would turn into 'monuments' if no water was available.

Demanding that the government take immediate steps to bring a halt to the ongoing works on Krishna and Godavari rivers, Owaisi said that the government's laxity would bode ill for the people of the state in the future.

He also called on the government to explore the possibilities of adopting a new approach to stopping the project undertaken by the neighbouring states.

The MIM demanded that the Chief Minister invite the Central Water Commission to depute a team of experts to the Babli project and also pressurise the centre to set up a new Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal.

Owaisi further also demanded that the centre dismiss the Maharashtra government for violating the Supreme Court verdict on the Babli project.

He sought an answer from the government as to why it had informed the Brajesh Committee that it had no need for a share in the surplus water for the new irrigation projects under construction.

Courtesy: INN News