Telangana BJP seeks amendments to Bill on Polavaram

Telangana BJP President G Kishan Reddy on Monday requested the Centre to make certain amendments to the Bill on Polavaram project.

In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kishan Reddy said that although the Telangana BJP was not against the construction of Polavaram, it proposes some changes in the Bill which are in the interest of both the States.

“The present design of the Polavaram project permanently curbs the inland water transportation to land locked Telangana State. If the project design is tweaked a little bit, Telangana state as well Maharastra are going to get benefit of the inland water transportation of Sea Going Vessels from Bay of Bengal on River Godavari. This will boost the economy of the State with manufacturing industries, tourism and shipping industries cropping up all along the River Godavari giving direct and indirect employment to about 1 crore people,” Kishan Reddy said.

Kishan Reddy said that the State BJP has presented this plan of inland water navigation on River Godavari to Nitin Gadkari, who has in principle agreed to it and promised to sympathetically consider it. “But for this to become a reality we need to change in the design of Polavaram project without in any way affecting the benefits of this project. Such alternative designs are already made available by experts and can be considered,” he said.

The Telangana BJP President also objected to the ordinance promulgated by the President of India transferring seven mandals belonging to Khammam district of Telangana into Andhra Pradesh State. “The reason mentioned was that the land in these mandals is needed for rehabilitating the people being displaced under this project. But the fact is that since this project is being taken up as a National Project, all the rehabilitation measures are undertaken by the Central Government only. So these mandals can be taken into the control of the Central Government until the rehabilitation measures are undertaken and then these mandals can be transferred back to Telangana state. There is no need to transfer this land to AP as the project’s responsibility is of the Central Government,” he said.

The entire village ‘gram sabhas’ in these seven mandals have passed resolutions to remain in the Telangana State only. Massive agitations are going on the ground protesting against the transfer of their land to AP. Most of the inhabitants in these seven mandals are poor tribals who are totally distraughton this issue, he said.

Kishan Reddy said that if these seven mandals are transferred to AP, then Telangana will lose the 460 MW Sileru Power Project, which is the only Hydro power project that generates hydro power all around the year. Telangana region in the then combined state had 56% of the power utilization since most of the farmers in the state use bore wells for crops since they do not have surface water availability. Now the Telangana State is already power stressed and we cannot afford to lose this hydro power project on the behest of Polavaram Project, he said.