Hyderabad: Union Minister for Labor & Employment Bandaru Dattaraya, after a meeting with Telangana Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao and Vedire Sri Ram, Advisor, Union Ministry of Water Resources, said on September 21 the Apex Board is meeting under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharathi and being attended by Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the Irrigation projects across the Krishna and Godavari Rivers. The meeting is aimed at resolution of disputes between two Telugu States that have arisen out of the AP Reorganization Act.
Dattatraya stated that the meeting of the two Chief Ministers is a welcoming one and the irrigation projects in the two States have to be completed in time in both the States in order to keep the project budgets under control. He also said he would meet Uma Bharathiji before and apprise her of the stands of the two States. Dattatraya said the two States should resolve their disputes arising out of the awards of Brijesh kumar Tribunal, Krishna Board and so on amicably across the table. Telangana is a backward State and cultivation of lands under the projects was very less.
“Therefore, there is a need for causing justice to Telangana. All these disputes could have been resolved during the combined State of Andhra Pradesh itself, but it was due to Congress and lack of its proper approach, the disputes were not resolved , he said. The Congress party has to be blamed for this. There were disputes with Karnataka and Maharashtra earlier, but today, on account of shortsightedness of Congress party, there arisen a dispute between two Telugu speaking States.
Stating that the Narendra Modi Government was keen on rendering justice to both the wearing States, Dattatraya said, “Today, the water dispute is a sensitive dispute in view of the recent experience in both the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that had arisen out of Supreme Court verdict. But the Narendra Modi’s government would act in a responsible manner to resolve the water disputes”, he added.
Dattatraya also said the Telangana BJP party leaders would soon meet the Prime Minister and would request him to accord National project status to Kaleshwaram project. The Godavari has abundant water and the projects have to be completed in a phased manner and planned approach in time. He also condemned the terrorist attack on the soldiers of Indian Army in Jammu-Kashmir today and stated that terrorism in any form has no place in the society. The Prime Minister was touring around the world and seeking International support for wiping out terrorism from this country and the world. He also severely criticized Pakistan for exporting Terrorism to all parts of the world. (NSS)
PM wants amicable solution to TS-AP water dispute: Dattatraya
