Rebutting the criticism of BJP that the State government failed to resolve river water disputes with Andhra Pradesh, senior TRS leader and Planning Board vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar asserted that the onus in this regard is squarely on the Central government.
He told media persons here on Sunday that the issue was something that could not be settled between States because Section 3 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act mandated the Centre to constitute a tribunal for the purpose.
In the last six years, the State government had approached the Centre several times to set up the tribunal for a permanent solution to water disputes between the riparian States of Telangana, AP, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and her successor Nitin Gadkari. Within six weeks of Telangana formation, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao had also written a letter in this regard to Union Water Resources Minister. A notice to the Secretary of Ministry was also given by Principal Secretary of Irrigation S.K. Joshi the same day, he said.
The TRS mounted pressure on Ms. Uma Bharti and Mr. Gadkari to resolve the water disputes in the last Parliament also. But, the MPs of Karnataka and Maharashtra set up obstacles in the House when Ms. Bharti made an effort to address the issue. The State government invoked a provision of Inter-State Water Disputes Act to move the Supreme Court if the Centre did not respond for one year. Yet, there was no response from Centre, he said.
Mr. Vinod Kumar said it is unfortunate that Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy and BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar targeted the State government without knowledge about the efforts put in by the State government.
Mr. Reddy made irresponsible remark that the Central government would mediate in talks between Telangana and AP Chief Ministers to find the solution. Mr. Sanjay Kumar towed Mr. Reddy's line without a clue about the whole episode.
The latter's comment that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao woke up to the issue and wrote a letter to Union Water Resources Minister only now speaks about his ignorance. If Mr. Reddy, Mr. Sanjay Kumar and two other BJP MPs who targeted the State government should use their offices to ensure that the Centre hands over redistribution of Krishna water between Telangana and AP to the present Brijesh Kumar tribunal, he said.
