Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh major irrigation minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, while addressing the media at the state Secretariat, criticised the TS government for taking up new projects in the Krishna basin without the approval of central authorities, which is mandated in the AP Reorganisation Act, and even without formal intimation to AP.

“Telangana government is acting against all laws and regulations. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao doesn’t bother about all these things, he just wants controversies, he wanted to divert the attention of people from his misdeeds and that is why he is raking up fresh controversies,” the minister said.

He said as per the provisions of various Tribunals and Acts, projects like Telugu Ganga, Handri-Neeva, Galeru-Nagari and Veligonda in AP and Kalwakurthy and Nettempadu in Telangana should be taken up on priority.

“You (KCR) wanted to prick the eyes of AP by going ahead with new projects, but you should know that by taking up two projects in the upstream of Nagarjunasagar, you are pricking the eyes of your own people of Nalgonda and Khammam districts,” the minister added.

He also asked why Leader of Opposition in AP Assembly Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had been silent and not questioning the Telangana government for going ahead with new projects, which would hamper the interests of AP.

Accusing the Telangana Chief Minister for changing his voice on utilisation of Krishna waters, the minister said that the Telangana government had earlier informed the Tribunal that the Krishna River did not have enough surplus waters. He said that the same government was now stating that it was going to use more than 100 TMC ft of water for its new projects. “Why this contradiction?” Mr Devineni asked.

He said that the AP government was not against construction of any project, but it should be done properly by duly following the procedure and law, otherwise “AP is going to lose badly because of the projects taken up upstream”.