Krishna Tribunal: TDP slams Cong for negligence

Expressing strong displeasure over the verdict given by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal over the sharing of waters of the Krishna River, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday slammed the state government for not properly arguing the case before the Tribunal and held government responsible for the crisis.

Talking to media persons after emerging out of all-party meeting convened at NTR Trust Bhavan, the TDP chief said that the state had suffered a ‘major injustice’ by the Tribunal’s verdict, Mr Naidu expressed fears that a large swath of land in the state would turn into desert soon.

Mr Naidu added that the TDP would launch signature campaign to protect the interests of farmers in the region.

The former chief minister added that the verdict has failed to mention that the water should be shared based on the availability of water position in the lower riparian states.

He alleged the state had met serious injustice many times during the tenure of various Congress regimes and asked the all village panchayats and gram panchayats adjoining Krishna River to pass a resolution seeking justice. Mr Naidu also appealed to the village water committees, panchayats and gram panchayats to create awareness about the losses they would suffer if the Tribunal verdict is implemented.

Condemning the Tribunal’s permission to raise the height of the controversial Almatti Dam in Karnataka from 519.60 meters to 524.265, the TDP chief also said that a resolution has been passed at the all party meeting urging Karnataka not to raise the height of dam by stating it would be a blow to the farming community.

Mr Naidu alleged the Congress leaders were involved in rampant corruption and had looted thousands of crores of money without constructing irrigations projects and failed to protect the interests of farm community.

He alleged that Rs 60,000 crore funds have been misutilised in the construction of irrigation projects taken up under the Jalayagnam scheme.

With this verdict, the state would not get its due share of water till 2050, he pointed out.