HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided to hit the road from April 2 to make the farmers aware of the dangers posed by the construction of Babli project on Godavari by Maharashtra and the Government's failure in stopping the works.

Mr. Naidu's `Rythu chaitanya yatra', will begin from Thungathurthi in Nalgonda on April 2 and proceed to other districts of Telangana in the following two days, covered by the ayacut of the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP), the reservoir to be affected by the barrage at Babli.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Mr. Naidu accused the State Government of being indifferent to the impending danger to the drought-prone region. If constructed within two months, as planned by Maharashtra, the project would virtually cut off inflows into the SRSP turning the ayacut spread over five districts dry.

"But the Government remains oblivious, behaving as if nothing has happened. It has failed to prevail upon the Centre and the Maharashtra Government to stop the barrage works. It failed to hire the best lawyers and could not argue its case properly before the Supreme Court. All this needs to be conveyed to the people in general and farmers in particular," he said.

If the Congress was unable to handle the situation, it should step down, he said and ridiculed the Congress Legislature Party for "sitting here and issuing statements" instead of joining the TDP protest.

He criticised the way the TDP MLAs were stopped from proceeding to the barrage site in Maharashtra "as if it is in another country".

Defending party MLA E. Dayakar Rao's decision to submit his resignation over the issue, Mr Naidu said he had no option, as he was suspended from the House in an unfair manner.

He declined to comment on another MLA P. V. Krishna Rao's resignation, terming it a "small issue."

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