Minister for Finance and Health T. Harish Rao, who replied to the debate on demands for grants pertaining to Irrigation department in the Assembly on Monday on behalf of the Chief Minister, stated that Telangana would not accept interlinking of Godavari-Penna-Cauvery until rights of Telangana in river waters were established first and clearances were given to projects.
He sought to know why the Centre was sitting over clearance to several projects of Telangana, if surplus water was available in Godavari, as assessed by the Centre. “We won’t accept the interlinking project, unless our water allocations are finalised,” he made it clear.
On the Telangana’s share in Krishna waters, he said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had met the then Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati within a month after the State formation with a plea under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, as per which such pleas had to be referred to a tribunal.
