India News | AP Ridicules Telangana Claim on Polavaram over Flooding in Godavari

Amaravati, Jul 19 (PTI) Countering Telangana government's claims on the under-construction Polavaram multipurpose project across river Godavari, the Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday asked the former to desist from creating "new disputes" between the two neighbouring states.

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Reacting to Telangana Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar's suggestion that Polavaram was the cause for excess flood in Godavari at upstream Bhadrachalam, AP Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu wondered how the project could be the cause of flooding at Bhadrachalam.

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"The Centre has granted all permissions for Polavaram after all surveys. The Centre merged seven mandals from Telangana with AP because they faced the threat of submergence due to the multipurpose project. If we were to give back five villages, would you give us Bhadrachalam back," Rambabu asked Telangana.

Noting that floods were natural when there were heavy rains, Rambabu said Telangana could find out from the Central Water Commission if indeed Polavaram caused inundation of villages in that state.

"There are no disputes between AP and Telangana now. Please don't try to create new disputes. If there is any problem, Chief Ministers of the two states could sort that out," the AP Minister added.

YSR Congress spokesman Perni Venkataramaiah ridiculed the Telangana minister's claim and said the neighbouring state was ostensibly seeking to stoke passions as elections in that state were due soon.

"There was no Polavaram in 1986 but was not Bhadrachalam inundated then? How did Ajay become a minister without basic knowledge of the subject," the spokesman asked.

The former AP minister alleged that the Telangana government was showing step-motherly attitude towards Bhadrachalam. "If you have no love for Bhadrachalam, give it to AP. It anyway was in the then Andhra state in 1953," Venkataramaiah said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)