Tunga canal : Naidu to take up with Karnataka CM

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 14. The Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu will take up the issue of construction of a parallel high-level canal from Tungabhadra dam with his Karnataka counterpart Mr.S.M.Krishna after a meeting with the opposition leaders in the State to elicit their views.

Mr.Naidu gave an assurance to this effect to the State Assembly during question hour on Friday when Congress members insisted that the issue be clinched by him in view of ``some positive signals from Karnataka.''

Andhra Pradesh is keen on taking up the parallel canal from the dam to make up the huge shortfall in the allocations made to the existing right bank high-level canal, serving Anantapur district, owing to siltation of the reservoir. Due to poor inflows into the existing canal, the ayacut in the district is starved of water almost every season.

The Congress-I and TDP members voiced concern over the grim prospect of the district degenerating into a desert, and demanded that the Government should pursue the proposal of building the parallel canal, the only alternative to serve the areas vigorously.

The Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, Mr. M. Venkateswara Rao, who faced a volley of supplementaries from members, informed the House that the Tungabhadra Board, which was initially reluctant to even have a feasibility study done, finally agreed at its 171st board meeting on May 7, 2001, to get a survey done by the National Water Development Authority.

Members were not satisfied with the Minister's reply. Dr.M.V.Mysoora Reddy and Mr.J.C.Diwakar Reddy of the Congress-I demanded that the Chief Minister, who was not present in the House, should assure the House of taking the matter directly with his Karnataka counterpart.

The Leader of the Opposition, Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, also opined that the issue cannot be left in the hands of the officials and that a political decision at the highest level was warranted.

Mr.Chandrababu Naidu walked into the House amid an argument between the Ministers and the Congress-I members, and assured the House that he would first convene a meeting of opposition leaders to finalise a concrete proposal to be put forth to Karnataka. It was a delicate inter-state issue which had to be handled carefully, he stressed.

Mr.Diwakar Reddy and other Congress-I members contended that the State Government was slow in reacting to the positive response from Karnataka.

The Major and Medium Irrigation Minister however argued that the matter was not so simple in view of the ``adamant'' stand of Karnataka on the irrigation projects on Krishna and Tungabhadra and the cases pending in the Supreme Court.

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Section  : Southern States
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