HYDERABAD: Senior Congress legislators -- P. Janardhan Reddy and M. Sashidhar Reddy -- again raised the controversial Pothireddypadu head regulator issue with APCC president K. Keshava Rao on Wednesday. They called on him and expressed anguish at the latest development.

They reportedly sought to know whether the Irrigation Department had given the go-ahead to construct another head regulator to allow 44,000 cusecs of floodwater through the nine sluice gates. This would be in addition to 11,500 cusecs allocated through the regulator. They contended that orders had already been issued to enhance the capacity of floodwater to 55,000 cusecs, which would affect the interests of Telangana.

Doubts to be cleared

According to sources, the senior leaders contended that when the issue had been brought to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh's notice, their doubts needed to be clarified. They pointed out that during the discussions, Mr. Singh had promised to raise the issue at the Andhra Pradesh Congress Coordination Committee meeting. They were believed to have said that there was no proper mechanism to regulate the floodwaters and to ensure surplus water for Rayalaseema from the regulator.

The party sources said the PCC chief had told the two leaders that experts would interact with them on Thursday and clarify their doubts. "We are not against floodwater being diverted to Rayalaseema from the Krishna, but where is the mechanism to plan the diversion and regulate the flow?" the sources questioned. In a related development, Telangana Regional Congress Coordination Committee convener G. Chinna Reddy discussed the issue with Dr. Rao. State Government's special representative in Delhi M. Ravi was present.

Road-widening

The PCC chief explained to them the ambitious Rs. 1,000-crore road-widening work on the National Highway 7 from the outskirts of Hyderabad to Kurnool. The leaders said it would be appropriate to invite Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy to launch the work in Mahabubnagar district. A pylon was planned at Jadcharla apart from a public meeting. They decided to await the outcome of TRS public meeting in Siddipet on September 8. If the tone of TRS leaders was critical, the TRCCC would convene a meeting to counter the TRS `propaganda'.

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