Polavaram & Political slugfest

(MS Shanker)
The state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on one hand wanted to intensify his government’s opposition over the construction of a multi-purpose irrigation project on river Godavari in neighboring Andhra Pradesh. And now, on the other, he wanted to join the electoral fray in neighbouring AP in the upcoming general elections in a bid to get national party recognition for his newly formed Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS).
While this was happening, his cabinet colleague and Labour Minister Malla Reddy’s statement claimed that if the BRS comes to power in neighboring AP, it would complete the unfinished Polavaram project caused much to the chagrin and embarrassment of KCR.
The state government had dashed off a letter last month to the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), which oversees the construction of the national irrigation project, seeking a detailed study on the spread of the backwaters of the project. KCR expressed fears that it could submerge Rama temple near Bhadrachalam, the famous border town between the two states which lies on the banks of the river Godavari. The Telangana government had also reportedly sought details of the exact boundaries of areas that could be submerged by the Polavaram project to assess how the backwaters will affect a large region of land in the state.
The issue is not new. During the separate statehood agitation, KCR indeed did whip up regional sentiments to oppose the project, alleging that it had been designed to tap into the Godavari river and help benefit AP at the expense of his state. Added to that was the Union government’s move to merge seven Telangana mandals with AP, soon after the separation. This was despite the opposition from local villagers.The KCR government contended that the project in its present form would hurt Telangana interests. To drive his government’s point home, also cited how the Heavy Water Plant in Manuguru and ITC’s plant in Bhadrachalam could get affected by the project.
In the same breath, the Telangana government made it clear that it was not against the project in principle. But, it fears that for the Polavaram project to maintain its Full Reservoir Level (FRL), it could cause submergence and inundation of entire villages in upstream areas, which fall in Telangana. It had also tried to get into the process legally, by moving to court.The relations were further strained with the stand taken by the Jagan Reddy government in the Supreme Court in November last year. This was after a brief spell of bonhomie between the two state Chief Ministers after the YSRCP storms to power in Andhra Pradesh in May 2019. Thus far, both state governments hold on to their interpretations of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 to back their claims.Earlier, Jagan Mohan Reddy had also dumped Chandrasekhar Rao’s proposal to link the Godavari and Krishna rivers to overcome water scarcity in parts of both states. The proposal was mooted after a series of meetings between the two leaders.Meanwhile, the AP CM had asked the Water Resources Department to mobilize Rs 6,000 crore from the Centre on an ad-hoc basis for expediting the construction of the project.