'Reject pre-feasibility report on river linking'

Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday appealed to Union Jal Shakti minister C R Patil to reject the pre-feasibility report of the Godavari-Banakacharla project proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government seeking to divert Godavari waters to the Krishna basin, an official statement read.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD:

The chief minister, along with state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, met with the Union minister, apart from Union secretary Debashree Mukherjee and other senior officials of the ministry at Shramshakti Bhavan in Delhi.

An official statement from the chief minister's office (CMO) said Revanth Reddy briefed the Union minister about how the Godavari-Banakacharla project was against the interests of Telangana state. He said the Andhra Pradesh government was taking up the project in contravention of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal-1980 (GWDT) and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The CM said though the Andhra Pradesh government was claiming that the project was based on flood waters of Godavari, there was no mention of flood waters or surplus waters in the GWDT-1980.