Srinivas Goud Flays Jagan Regime Over Water Feud

Telangana Excise and Sports Minister Srinivas Goud today criticised the Andhra Pradesh government for "constructing illegal projects", yet again.

Addressing a press conference, Goud stated that the KCR government would urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do justice to Telangana with regard to the construction of irrigation projects in Mahabubnagar district and elsewhere in

The minister then lambasted AP Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and his government for violating the norms delineating the construction of dams.

Denying the allegations made by the ministers of the neighbouring state, that Telangana was the one violating norms and constructing illegal projects, he maintained that there was no truth in their remarks and that no illegal works had been undertaken in Telangana.

"We are ready to resolve the water conflict through legal means. While the AP government cannot loot our waters, it can only take away its fair share of the waters after following all the norms needed to do so. We will not give up even a drop that is rightfully ours," the leader asserted.

"Our Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, has ensured that all the irrigation and water projects meet the guidelines and stipulations laid down by the relevant agencies - in Mahabubnagar, all our projects comply with such norms. The AP government needs to ensure compliance to such norms as well by respecting the orders of the National Green Tribunal and stalling all illegal work on dams and reservoirs. It is unfortunate that the Centre is displaying a clearly partisan attitude on the issue of water allocations by favouring AP. The Jagan government has entered into a secret agreement with the Centre in this regard," he alleged.

The minister also accused the Jagan administration of looting Telangana's water, and thundered, "The AP government must cooperate with official teams inspecting its irrigation projects. If the projects are not even illegal, as the government has been claiming, why did it object to the site visits of inspection teams in the first place? This shows the illegality of the works. Our government, on the other hand, is playing by the rules and has acquired all the necessary clearances for its projects from the Krishna management board and the Centre. AP should do the same."