Congress MPs object to construction of barrage

Construction on the river Godavari in Maharashtra figured in the Lok Sabha with agitated Congress MPs seeking central intervention by preventing the State Government from carrying on with it.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Nizamabad MP, Madhu Yashki Goud said the State Government was going ahead with the construction of the barrage that would affect the Sriramasagar irrigation project.

Mr. Goud said construction activity was going on despite an assurance by the Maharashtra Chief Minister to suspend it till March 30 when he was scheduled to meet his Andhra Pradesh counterpart.
Stating that authorities in Maharashtra were violating its own agreement and also directions of the Central Water Commission, he urged the Centre to take immediate steps. He requested that Union Water Resource Minister to visit the site. Several of Mr. Goud’s party members also stood up in sup-
port expressing their resentment over the construction.

Earlier, the Nizamabad MP had to tender an apology and express regrets after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee cautioned him for interrupting the proceedings of the House. Mr. Goud had tried to bring it up as the Speaker was calling out names of members who had given notices to raise other issues.

Babli project: work on at feverish pace, says MP

Maharashtra violating CWC directive: Madhu Yashki Goud

• Nizamabad MP meets Chief Minister after visiting the project site
   

• Shows YSR photographs of ongoing works at Babli project site
   

• Seeks support of MLAs from Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam

HYDERABAD: Notwithstanding the assurance given by Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh to Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in New Delhi to stop works on the Babli project across Godavari, construction activity continues at a brisk pace.

Nizamabad MP, Madhu Yashki Goud, who visited the project site on Thursday, met the Chief Minister on Thursday and showed him photographs of the ongoing activity being carried out in violation of the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) directive to stop all work.

He said the barrage would adversely affect inflows into Sriramsagar reservoir that irrigates Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Adilabad districts.

Mr. Goud told The Hindu that MPs from Andhra Pradesh would raise the issue in Parliament. “It is unfortunate that the Maharashtra Chief Minister has failed to keep his promise. Mr. Deshmukh should have waited till March 30, when the two leaders are to meet Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz. Babli project will spell the doom for Sriramsagar,” he said.

He later met MLAs from Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam and sought their cooperation in stalling the work on Babli. He produced a letter written by the CWC to Maharashtra Chief Secretary, which said that construction of Babli project in the submergence area of Sriramsagar project without due mutual agreement was violative of the inter-State agreement.

MP to appeal to apex court on Babli

MP visits project site and reviews pace of work

• Babli will affect inflows into Sriramasagar, says MP
   

• Project could utilise more water than expected
   

• `Babli clear violation of the river water agreement of 1975 between the two States’

EYE OF THE STORM: MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi taking a look at construction of Babli Project in Dharmabad taluq in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

NIZAMABAD: Madhu Goud Yaskhi, MP, said that he would take a recourse to the Supreme Court shortly imploring it to direct the Government of Maharashtra to immediately stop the construction of the Babli project across the Godavari in Nanded district.

“At the outset, after going back to New Delhi I will meet the Union Minister for Water Resources, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, the Central Water Commission Chairman and the Prime Minister urging them to use their offices to stop the project’s construction. Even if the Maharashtra Government turns a deaf ear on our plea I will approach the Supreme Court,” he said.

Visits project site

Accompanied by the District Congress Committee president, Gadugu Gangadhar and the ZPTC member (Sirikonda), B. Gopi and mediapersons from the district headquarters, the MP visited the Babli project.

Talking to reporters at the project site, Mr. Goud pointed out that it was unfortunate that even after the CWC had clearly directed the Maharashtra Government to give up construction of the project it was going ahead with its plan.

The whole of Telangana would become a desert if the Babli project comes up, he said.

Although the Babli project was projected to be a medium irrigation project by Maharashtra, with a capacity of just 2.74 tmcft, as per expert opinion it would be able to utilise more than 8 tmcft, he said.

“It is a clear violation of the river water agreement of 1975 between the two States,” he said. Meanwhile, the construction of the project is going on at a brisk pace. Some 7.5 metre high foundation wall across the river was completed so far and as per the workmen at the site the wall height would be increased by another 8 metres.