YSR Congress Party MLA and government whip Samineni Udaya Bhanu was today prevented from visiting the Pulichinthala power and irrigation project by the Telangana police.
He had travelled from Vijayawada to visit the project, located at the Muktyala village in Jaggaiahpet mandal, straddling the border of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. But his plans were foiled when he was stopped at the Telangana border.
The state's police did not allow Bhanu to visit the power production site at Pulichinthala, claiming that he did not have the requisite permissions to do so which to an altercation between him and them.
The MLA then expressed his displeasure at Telangana for "using water from the Krishna without following any norms", and claimed, "Before the Kharif season begins, the Telangana government is illegally the waters of the Krishna for power generation. This means that river water is going waste into the sea instead of being used for irrigation purposes. It is condemnable that the Telangana regime is ignoring the norms of the AP Bifurcation Act and the allocations made by the Bachawat tribunal."
Pointing out that AP Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had always had a "friendly attitude" towards Telangana, the YSRCP leader also criticised the state's administration for violating irrigation project norms, and fumed, "Telangana's actions will cause huge losses to AP. So we urge CM K Chandrashekar Rao to stop hydro-power generation on the Krishna basin immediately. It is also pertinent to point out that though the state has accused us of constructing illegal projects, it is itself guilty of constructing irrigation projects without the requisite permissions and clearances."
Bhanu finally reached the Pulichintala project by boat, travelling from Krishna district to Madipadu in Guntur, after the Telangana police barred him from passing through the state.
The AP government has been objecting to the power generation in Telangana and has even
turned to the Centre to urge it to stop the state from using the waters of the Krishna basin to do so. However, the Telangana government has maintained that the power generation being carried out is in compliance with all the necessary norms.