Stating that the
verdict by the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal over the sharing of Krishna waters was detrimental to the state's interests, All India Congress Committee secretary Ponguleti Sudhakar on Saturday urged chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to file an appeal against the verdict.
Talking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan, Ponguleti said that at least 7 to 8 irrigation projects in the state would suffer if the verdict is accepted by the government without contest. Emphasizing the need to appeal against the tribunal's decision, Ponguleti said that a large number of areas in the Rayalaseema and Telangana regions would suffer from lack of adequate water if the verdict is implemented.
The AICC secretary also called on prime minister Manmohan Singh to interfere in the matter and ensure that Andhra Pradesh does not lose out because of the verdict.
Ponguleti condemned the attempts by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for trying to pin the blame of the adverse verdict on the Congress. He sought to remind Naidu that he had failed to object when the Almatti Dam work was taken up during the time when H D Deve Gowda was the prime minister.
Ponguleti said that it was the Congress which had raised the issue of the raising of the Almatti Dam's height and had staged dharnas in protest. He said that Naidu was the 'king maker' at that time and yet had done nothing to stop the construction work on the Almatti dam.
Earlier, senior TDP leader K Yerrannaidu had said the state, which was known as Annapurna, would turn into a desert because of the verdict. He had, speaking for the TDP, said that the tribunal's verdict not only allowed the surplus waters to be shared by all the 3 states - Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh - but also allowed Karnataka to raise the height of the controversial Almatti Dam from 519.60 meters to 524.265 meters, which was a severe blow to the farm community.
Pinning the blame on the state government for not arguing for the case strongly, Yerrannaidu had lamented that the state has received a raw deal in the verdict.
Courtesy: INN