NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz to discuss the contentious issue of Babli project on river Godavari with the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra and "facilitate an amicable solution", an official statement said.

The Prime Minister's direction came after the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh led an all-party delegation to apprise the Prime Minister on the Babli project. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had earlier led an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister on the issue.

On his part, Mr. Deshmukh told the Prime Minister that the ongoing construction at Babli barrage was as per the regulations and complained that Andhra Pradesh was creating law and order problem in the State for political mileage. The Chief Minister urged that his Andhra Pradesh counterpart should await the verdict of Supreme Court's on the issue. He maintained that the work carried out on the barrage was per the guidelines given by the Central Water Commission, without harming the interests of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Deshmukh told the Prime Minister that the State Government had brought down the height from its potential capacity of 2.74 tmcft to 1.09 tmcft as suggested by the CWC. He said even after this, the State would abide by the decision of the apex court, a Maharashtra Government release said.

Mr. Deshmukh said the proposed barrage under construction was situated in Dharmabad Taluk in Nanded district. The project would irrigate 7,995 hectares of land and provide drinking water to 58 villages. He asserted that the barrage was well within the provisions of Godavari Water District Tribunal and it was not a dam, and the total storage at the barrage (2.74 tmcft) would be lowered by the end of October every year.

He said Maharashtra had cooperated with Andhra Pradesh for increasing the capacity of Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP) (Ponchampad dam) by 65 tmcft by allowing submergence of land in its territory. "Had this submergence not been allowed at the time of construction of the project, its storage would have been reduced to 47 tmcft," he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail