Congress Slams TS-Maharashtra Godavari Water Pact

The Telangana Congress organized a massive demonstration across the State protesting the Telangana-Maharashtra Godavari pact that was inked today.

Congress leaders including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ex-MPs V Hanumantha Rao and M Anjan Kumar Yadav, ex-ministers Danam Nagender and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, GHCC minorities department chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, Telangana Youth Congress President Anil Kumar Yadav, TPCC Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin and others marched from Gandhi Bhavan to the district Collectorates across the State in rallies raising slogans against the government for its "anti-people" and "anti-farmer" policies.

Leading the demonstration at the Hyderabad collectorate was TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who accused the State government of misleading the people on the details of the pact.

"KCR's claim that this project will irrigate one crore acres of land in the State is highly misleading," he alleged. "The united Andhra Pradesh government had already inked an agreement with Maharashtra years ago for the construction of barrages over the Godavari river. Since Telangana is a newly formed state, it requires to re-enter the agreement, and that is why KCR had to re-sign the pact. These publicity stunts and celebrations are pure sensationalism."

In a letter to Hyderabad district Collector Rahul Bojja, Reddy wrote that between the years 1975 and 2012, successive Congress governments had entered into several agreements with Maharashtra over the usage of the Godavari waters, one of which was the Pranahitha-Chevella agreement.

"A barrage of height 152 metres and capacity 160 TMC was proposed at the confluence of the Pranahitha and Godavari rivers in the Adilabad district. This had the potential to irrigate around 16 lakh acres of land in seven districts in the State besides to channel sufficient drinking water to the neighbouring areas. In addition to this, Hyderabad, too, would receive 30 TMC of drinking water. The Congress government had even prepared a DPR for the Rs. 38,500 crores project," he claimed in the letter. "In the pact, the State government agreed to decrease the height of the barrage at the confluence of the Pranahitha and Godavari (Tammidihatti) to 148 metres from 152 metres, and is instead attempting to construct a barrage at Medigadda under the name of Kaleshwaram."

"When questioned about this, KCR says that the project is being redesigned to prevent the submergence of 1,800 acres of land in Maharashtra. But he does not have an answer for the 3,000 acres of land near Medigadda in Telangana that will be submerged under Kaleshwaram," he added. "The Pranahitha-Chevella project was a more financially and technically feasible option."

In the letter, the TPCC chief also claimed that the Kaleshwaram project would lead to the submergence of nearly one lakh acres of fertile land. He also said that the project would cost Rs. 83,000 crores as oppposed to Pranahita-Chavella which would cost only Rs. 38,000 crores.