TDP 'Mahadharna' on Prakasam barrage to focus ryots' woes

Demanding that the Government  safeguard the interests of the people on the issue of surplus Krishna water, Telugu  Desam  leaders are proposing  to stage  `Mahadharna’  at Prakasam  barrage here on  April  9.

The Tdp leaders surveyed the venue near the barrage where they propose to stage a sit-in. The Tdp  leaders alleged that the state Government has failed to protect the rights of Andhra Pradesh farmers.

``If  we don’t take  up the issue seriously, the future generations will suffer for the Government's failure now and  they will have to pay a heavy price. So we are staging this `Mahadharna’  keeping  the  future of  Andhra Pradesh  in mind,’’ said  Tdp  leader  Kodela  Sivaprasad.

In the past four or five decades, Karnataka has been using its share of the Krishna waters to the full. This has left Andhra Pradesh with a thinner flow. The available water was further reduced after Maharashtra too began using its share of the river's waters. AP suffers from basin disadvantages like inevitable wastage, deficiency in depth, and variation in the flow. To compensate for this, the Bachawat Tribunal in 1972 had given AP exclusive rights to use the surplus water.

 AP wants this condition to continue but the other two states are contesting this. Now the State  government  is engaged in a legal battle for getting its due share of surplus water.

``While  we are   fighting for the cause  of the farmers, the ruling party  legislators  are leveling  charges against us,’’ said Devineni   Umamaheshwara Rao, theTdp convener.