Telangana to nail Andhra Pradesh's lies on water projects

Hyderabad: Battle lines seem to have been drawn between the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the projects taken up on the Krishna and Godavari rivers against which the two Telugu states are locking horns.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who held a review meeting to finalise the stand the government has to take at the apex council meeting to be held soon, expressed his ire over the attitude of the Andhra Pradesh government which was taking "irrational and unilateral" decisions that would harm the interests of Telangana.

Stating that the Telangana Government would vociferously put forward its argument and would expose the AP government, KCR for the first time used harsh words against the neighbouring State saying that the argument of TS will silence AP forever. He was equally critical of the Centre and alleged that they too were acting in a manner that was harmful to Telangana.

KCR said that he had extended a helping hand to Andhra Pradesh by taking the initiative to invite Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy over lunch and offered friendly hand and made suggestions which would have benefitted the farmers of both Telugu States.

But unfortunately, they want to construct projects illegally on Krishna and Godavari rivers. Not just that, they had even lodged complaints with the Centre against the projects being constructed by Telangana.

The TS government will unmask the AP Government's thinking and expose them before the apex council. KCR said all the projects taken up by the Telangana government on the two rivers were approved before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. To ensure the optimum utilisation of waters, the TS government only made some changes in the design. They are not new projects as claimed by AP. Kaleshwaram project was the result of redesign of Pranahitha - Chevella and Sittamma Sagar and Sitarama Sagar projects were also redesigned projects taken up in the united Andhra state. The Government was constructing every project within the allocated water for Telangana, KCR added.