TMC plea on Krishna project rejected

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JAN. 31. As the Opposition TMC raked up the Krishna water controversy in the Assembly on Wednesday, the PWD Minister, Mr. Durai Murugan, stoutly rejected its persistent plea for a white paper on the Krishna project.

``Why do you want a white paper, when Chennai is getting Krishna water,'' he angrily asked, as a TMC member, Mr. E. S. S. Raman, insisted that Chennai was only receiving discharges from the Kandaleru reservoir, and not Krishna water.

``The Krishna water goes to the Kandaleru reservoir from the Srisailam dam, before reaching Chennai,'' the Minister explained.

He also rejected the TMC member's plea for deputing a team of MLAs to inspect the flow of Krishna water. ``If you have doubts about the project, you can take a team of MLAs and find out the real position,'' he asserted.

When the TMC member, Mr. K. S. Alagiri, intervened to ask if Tamil Nadu had received the stipulated quantum of 15 tmc from Andhra Pradesh, the Minister said that as per the project agreement, the State should annually receive 12 tmc in phases, after a transmission loss of 3 tmc.

However, since the proposed project to increase the storage capacity by constructing reservoirs at Ramanjeri and Thirukandalam could not be taken up due to protest from the villages in the vicinity,

Tamil Nadu's share of 5 tmc was now stored in the Kandaleru reservoir. ``We can get our share whenever we want,'' he said.

Responding to a query from the TMC MLA, Dr. A. Chellakumar, the Minister admitted that the canal had not been dug for a 13-km stretch between Srisailam and the Somasila dam in Andhra Pradesh.

The work could not be started as the villagers in these areas had moved the court against the project, he said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : One-lakh 'pooris' for Gujarat
Next     : Attack on PT office: CM's promise to Krishnasamy