AP should be assured of safety of its interests: Hegde

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI, JUNE 6. Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde, MP, suggested here on Tuesday that Karnataka should get in touch with Andhra Pradesh while starting work to raise the height of the Alamatti Dam to 524.256 meters.

To questions from presspersons, Mr. Hegde said that Karnataka should try to convince Andhra Pradesh that extra water available when the height of the dam was raised would be used for power generation and that its (Andhra Pradesh) interests would not be affected.

Mr. Hegde said that there was no point in pursuing the dispute over sharing of Krishna waters legally by filing an appeal or a review petition before the Supreme Court. Karnataka, he said, had won a moral victory in the Supreme Court. Karnataka should go the whole hog in completing the projects in the Krishna Basin for utilisation of allocated water, he said.

On the appointment of a new tribunal, Mr. Hegde said that this had been stated by the Supreme Court itself. On the Centre not taking any interest in the matter even though more than a month had elapsed after the Supreme Court judgment, Mr. Hegde said that the Centre might do something.

On the apprehensions about Karnataka losing unutilised share of water of Krishna waters during any review, Mr. Hegde said that no where it had been said that if the State failed to utilise allocated water within the deadline of May 31, 2000, it had to forfeit its share. "But any delay in the expeditious utilisation of water would have dangerous consequences for Karnataka's interest in Krishna waters," Mr. Hegde observed.

On the basis on which a share would be determined afresh, Mr. Hegde said that the capacity to utilise the water played a crucial role in determining the share among the riparian States.

Mr. Hegde expressed his apprehensions over the future of the Tungabhadra Project where silt was forming very fast. If the situation was allowed to go unattended, there might not be any storage available in the dam in the next 10 or 15 years.

Along with Upper Krishna Project, the State should take up on priority desiltation of the Tungabhadra Dam, Mr. Hegde said.

On the Union Government taking the initiative in finding a solution through discussions with the Chief Ministers of the States concerned, Mr. Hegde said that when the time came the Centre would definitely act. It was primarily for the Chief Ministers concerned to make the first move in this connection, he added.

Mr. Hegde described as reasonable the demand for the establishment of a Bench of the High Court of Karnataka in Hubli- Dharwad. No one could say no to it, he said. There was no political will for acceding the demand of the people. It was also true, Mr. Hegde said, that sufficient pressure had not been brought on the authorities concerned, including the Supreme Court and High Court, in this connection.

`India is cautious'

Mr. Hegde denied the suggestion that India was encouraging cross border terrorism in Sri Lanka. He said that India only desired that it should not commit the mistakes of the type committed in the past and hoped that Sri Lanka would be able to sort the issue amicably. India had not encouraged Mr. Prabhakaran's activities directly or indirectly, he said.

Mr. Hegde said that he was opposed to the creation of an Eelam, which was not in the interest of India, but believed that there should be decentralisation among the various administrative units, including that of Jaffna. He expressed himself against any move for the "balkanisation" of Sri Lanka.

"India should follow the policy of live and let live," Mr. Hegde said. On India not being able to help the ethnic Indians in Fiji, Mr. Hegde said that the pressure from the world leaders should be enough (to safeguard the interests of ethnic Indians). India, however, had sent its officials to Australia and Fiji for taking stock of the situation, he said.

Advice to partners

Mr. Hegde said that it should be the endeavour of every partner of the coalition at the Centre to see that the coalition sustained as an alternative to the Congress(I) and made to work. The coalition partners, including the BJP, were mutually dependent on each other and that no one should try to either project an agenda which was outside the National Agenda of Governance and try to build itself up locally at the cost of other partners of the coalition.

An example of what could be wrought by such an attitude was in Karnataka where the BJP became greedy in last year's election with the Congress(I) taking advantage of it. It had now been proved that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was incapable of leading the Congress(I). Only sycophants were projecting her as a leader and the others, who were capable, had not realised their own strength, Mr. Hegde said.

Mr. Hegde ridiculed the move on part of the four former Prime Ministers for trying to move to the centrestage of politics under one pretext or the other. It was amusing, he said, to note that Mr. V.P.Singh wanted to act as the champion of the slum dwellers. During his innings as a Chief Minister, Union Minister and Prime Minister, Mr. Singh did not near a slum.

Mr. Hegde criticised the tendency of politicians being appointed as Governors with the incumbents switching over to active political life later. What impartial administration could a politician-Governor could give to the people? he asked.

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