Shanthi Rajagopal
The contentious Babhali Barrage issue, now at the centre of a controversy between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, is scheduled to come up for further hearing before the Supreme Court in August 2010. Though the Maharashtra government was permitted by the apex court in April 2007 to go ahead with the construction of the Babhali Barrage, it has been restrained from installing 13 gates on it till further orders.
Maharashtra believes that they are strictly honouring the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) award of 1975 and following the apex court directives by not impounding the water.
The Controversy
The Babhali Barrage is being constructed on the Godavari, around 80 km from Nanded, the home district of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan of Maharashtra. Situated within the Maharashtra boundary, the barrage is seven kilometres upstream from the state border at the confluence of the Godavari and Manjra rivers. With a storage capacity of 2.75 million cubic feet, the barrage will cater to the drinking water requirements of 58 surrounding villages and irrigate 7,995 hectares of agricultural land. The total cost of the barrage (as per revised estimates) would be around Rs.2.21 billion and the state has already spent Rs.1.6 billion on the project.
Chavan said 80 percent of the work on the barrage is almost complete, including the approach roads on both sides of the project. Minor works like electrification for operating the barrage gates, constructing a generator room and inspection posts are currently under way.
Andhra Pradesh has claimed that the Babhali Barrage is being constructed within the backwaters of the Pochampad Dam in the Telangana region. It says Maharashtra is violating the GWDT agreement of October 1975, and challenged the matter in the Supreme Court.
It apprehends that the barrage would cut off water supply to the Pochampad Dam, adding to the woes of the farmers and create serious drinking water supply problems in the Telangana region.
Rejecting this strongly, the Maharashtra government has said that the barrage is being built seven kilometres upstream from the state border and within the state’s territory. They claim that they have prepared the schemes within the limits of the (water) share allotted by GWDT.
Chavan says that the state would not deprive Andhra Pradesh of even a drop of its due water share.
Arrest of TDP Chief
Andhra Pradesh’s opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, along with 74 supporters, in July 2010 entered Dharmabad town in Nanded district to examine the site of the Babhali Barrage over the Godavari river and ascertain whether Maharashtra was grabbing more than its share of water. They were arrested since they flouted prohibitory orders and remanded to judicial custody till July 26.
Even as they were being shifted from Dharmabad to Aurangabad, the Maharashtra government suddenly decided to drop all charges against Naidu and 65 others.
Instead of being taken to jail, they were driven straight to Chikhalthna Airport near Aurangabad and sent back to Hyderabad in a chartered Indian Airlines aircraft.
In the past few days, all political parties have described the TDP agitation as “a political stunt” to gain mileage in the July 27 by-elections in Telangana.
July 29, 2010
In order to discuss the row over the Babhali dam project between the riverine states, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called a meeting of chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra on Aug 2, 2010. The meeting was aimed at addressing apprehensions among political parties in Andhra Pradesh, on Maharashtra not sticking to its commitment about the project following Supreme Court directions. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah had led an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to direct the Maharashtra government to dismantle the gates installed at the Babhali barrage and take necessary action to put an end to the dispute.
The delegation, which had representatives from all registered political parties in Andhra Pradesh, also urged the prime minister to call a meeting of the chief ministers of the two states to resolve the issue of Babhali barrage and 13 other barrages built on Godavari river, which flows through both states.
Political parties in Andhra Pradesh have accused Maharashtra of carrying out illegal construction on the Babhali barrage against a Supreme Court order, but Maharashtra denies it.
Aug 3, 2010
Chandrabau Naidu, the opposition leader told reporters that Rosaiah compromised the state’s interests during the meeting to save his “chair”. He pointed out that Maharashtra had already violated the Supreme Court’s interim order in the case by going ahead with the Babhali barrage across the Godavari. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief, who along with other party leaders was arrested by Maharashtra police recently for marching towards Babhali, wanted Rosaiah to reveal the details of the meeting.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah denied that he compromised the interests of the state on the Babhali barrage dispute during a meeting with his Maharashtra counterpart in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Addressing a news conference, he said Andhra Pradesh would continue to pursue the contempt of court case filed in the Supreme Court against Maharashtra for not abiding by its interim order.
He also claimed that at the same time the two states would continue their efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the problem. The chief minister said it was the opinion of the central government that both the states should abide by the Supreme Court order on the dispute.
Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) chief K. Chiranjeevi also said the meeting was not satisfactory. He too urged Rosaiah to call an all-party meeting and reveal the details of his discussions in Delhi. Andhra Pradesh argues that Babhali dam will deprive the state of its rightful share of Godavari waters.
Aug 5th 2010
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had convened a meeting of chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra over the Babhali barrage row and called upon the two riverine States to abide by the Supreme Court’s interim order.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned on Aug 4th 2010 for half-an-hour following protests by the members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Shiva Sena over the Babhali dam dispute over the Godavari river. As the house convened at 11 a.m on 4.08.2010, the TDP members came near Speaker Meira Kumar’s podium shouting slogans over the issue. The enraged Shiv Sena members also started the protest, forcing the speaker to adjourn the house till 11.30 a.m.
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