AP steps up legal fight on NS link project

With Telangana’s petition challenging the proposed Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar link project scheduled to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on January 12, Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Minister Nimmala Ramanaidu on Sunday directed the legal team to present strong arguments in support of the project.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi is arguing the case on behalf of Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court.

During a video conference, the minister ordered the senior irrigation officials to provide all the records related to this case to the legal team.

Irrigation Special Secretary Sai Prasad, Advisor Venkateswara Rao, Engineer-In-Chief Narasimha Murthy, lawyers, and senior officials from the Inter-State Irrigation department participated in the video conference.

According to an official statement, the minister asked what was wrong with utilising 200 TMC of water from the Godavari river that flows downstream and goes to waste into the sea.

He said it was regrettable that while extending a hand of friendship, Telangana is going to court in a way that would cause injustice to Andhra Pradesh.

He said that this project was proposed to utilise only 200 TMC of water out of the 3000 TMC of Godavari water that goes to waste into the sea every year.

He argued that according to the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) award, Andhra Pradesh has the right to utilise the surplus water. Since Andhra Pradesh is a downstream state in the Godavari basin, he said that it can utilise the surplus floodwaters without infringing on the rights of other states.

Ramanaidu stated that the objective of this project is to divert the water that is currently flowing waste into the sea to the Rayalaseema and make that region fertile.

He said that they have submitted the project feasibility report to the Central government and are making changes based on their suggestions.

He clarified that the tenders related to the DPR (Detailed Project Report) are merely preliminary preparatory measures. He stated that the project will be undertaken only after obtaining all the necessary legal permissions.

Telangana Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had categorically stated last week that the Telangana government will never agree to the construction of the Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar link project by the Andhra Pradesh government.

He claimed that the Andhra Pradesh government's proposals are a clear violation of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal 1980 award and interstate water regulations.