The Maharashtra government on Friday made it clear that it will not hesitate to stop the
bus yatra undertaken by the Telugu Desam party to the site of the Babli Irrigation Project in Marathwada.
According to reports reaching here, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil told Legislators that the Maharashtra government will even arrest TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu if the bus yatra poses a threat to law and order.
The Babli project, across the river Godavari, is designed to provide water for irrigation to about 8,000 hectares of land in Nanded in Maharashtra, by harnessing 2.74 TMC of water.
The opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh claim that the Maharashtra government is building illegal crest gates as part of the project, in contravention of a Supreme Court directive.
Maharashtra Home Minister said that the government has followed the Apex Court's directives, and has not installed any gates. He said that the government has already spent Rs. 165 crore from the Rs. 170 crore earmarked for the project.
The AP government had approached the Supreme Court in 2006, pleading that the proposed barrages be stopped forthwith. AP had argued that the barrages would deprive the state of its rightful share of waters, and that and vast areas would turn into a desert.
According to Patil, after two hearings in 2007, the Supreme Court had given the nod for Maharashtra to build the barrages, with the provision that the crest gates would not be installed.
The Maharashtra Home Minister said that the matter is still sub-judice, and that this essentially meant that the TDP Bus Yatra is illegal.
Courtesy: INN News