Hyderabad, July 21: Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday said that the Supreme Court will hear the final arguments on the illegal constructions on the river Godavari as part of the Babli Irrigation Project on August 16. He said that raising the issue in such a manner as adopted by the Telugu Desam Party, at such a critical juncture, is not going to benefit the state government’s arguments.
Mr Rosaiah also reiterated his invitation to all political parties to join him in representing the Babli case before the Prime Minister on July 26. The earlier scheduled date of July 23 was postponed to July 26.
The Chief Minister criticised the TDP chief’s statement that the Congress was not committed to safeguard the interests of the state.
Mr Rosaiah said that Mr Naidu had claimed when he was in power that the Information Technology would help the state government keep an eye on the situation around the world. He asserted that the TDP government should have known that the Babli project was cleared by the Maharashtra government on March 10, 1995.
Preliminary work began on the project in 2000, and the initial designs were drafted in 2001, the Chief Minister revealed.
Mr Rosaiah added that in February 2003, the Maharashtra government had called for tenders and the process was completed in July that year and reminded that the TDP was in power at that time.
He wondered why the TDP had not raised the issue when it was in power and why was it silent all these years.
Mr Rosaiah said that the Congress government had obtained orders from the Supreme Court and had got the work on the project stopped.
The Chief Minster further said that the state government was responsible for getting the Maharashtra government censured by the Supreme Court after it defied the Apex Court’s ordered and proceeded to install crest gates.
—-INN