The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Andhra Pradesh to move Supreme Court on Babli

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Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh to move Supreme Court on Babli

Special Correspondent

`Barrage construction by Maharashtra violates 1975 accord'

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh has decided to approach the Supreme Court for stalling the construction of Babli and other barrages by Maharashtra on the Godavari in violation of the 1975 agreement between the two States.

The accord prohibits any construction on the foreshores of Sriramsagar reservoir affecting its storage capacity.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said Maharashtra had not responded so far on the three strong letters by Andhra Pradesh pleading for stoppage of Babli. "We will wait for three more days and file the petition before the Supreme Court. No going back on the fight," he said.

Dr. Reddy said although the projects taken up by Andhra Pradesh on the Krishna were a "settled affair," having been cleared by the apex court, Karnataka had made noise by submitting a representation to the Prime Minister and raising the matter before the new Krishna water tribunal. Karnataka had raised the issue before the Supreme Court four times and its plea was rejected on all occasions. While the reality was like this, Karnataka was still raising a hue and cry, he said, wondering whether this was a drama sought to be played to the galleries.

Referring to the Telugu Desam president, N. Chandrababu Naidu's criticism blaming the Congress Government for the Babli construction, the Chief Minister wanted to know as to what Mr. Naidu had done when Alamatti height was increased "under his very nose." The United Front Government headed by H. D. Deve Gowda was in power at that time.

Municipal elections

The Chief Minister also announced that discussions were on in the Government whether to go in for indirect elections to municipalities. There was a strong line of thinking to opt for indirect elections to avoid clashes between the chairman and councillors. With the chairman belonging to one party and councillors to another, clashes continued in 10 municipalities now, affecting the administration. "Municipalities are small units. The decision whether to opt for direct or indirect elections will be taken as per administrative convenience."

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