Congress demands Assembly session on Pranahita-Chevella

Hyderabad, July 6 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has demanded that the State Government convene a special session of Assembly and Legislative Council to take a final decision on Pranahita-Chevella project.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party office here on Monday, Shabbir Ali accused Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of delaying the project only for political motives. He said that the Pranahita-Chevella had all clearances from the Centre and all disputes with Maharashtra were already resolved. The project report was prepared by the WAPCO and several teams of experts have given their nod. So far, nearly Rs. 10,000 Crore have been spent and even the land acquisition process is over. The previous UPA Government had almost cleared the processes to declare Pranahita-Chevella as national project. "Instead of simply executing the project, KCR has been finding reasons to delay the project," he alleged.

Referring to the MoU signed between the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Shabbir Ali said all the agreements still stand valid. KCR did not mind giving away seven mandals of Khammam district to Andhra Pradesh for Polavaram project. But a hue and cry is being raised over loss of 14 villages of Maharashtra due to Pranahita-Chevella, he said. "Ours is a democratic country. Parties win and lose elections. But the government and its machinery remains the same. Change of party-in-power in a State(s) does not impact on the agreements and MoUs signed between two State Governments," Shabbir Ali explained while asking KCR not to mislead the people with his weird statements.

Describing Pranahita-Chevella as the heartbeat of Telangana, he said that the project would resolve water scarcity on 16.4 lakh acres in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad, Medak, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts. He said any change in the design would delay the project further as fresh permissions would be needed for the same. Five out of seven members of the Committee of retired Chief Engineers too opined that there was no need for change in the present design of Pranahita-Chevella. To end the impasse, KCR should immediately convene an all-party meeting or the Assembly and Council session on the issue.

The Congress leader also ridiculed KCR's allegation that crores of rupees were swindled in the name of Pranahita-Chevella project. "KCR is in power. He should immediately order a high-level probe to punish the guilty. Unlike TRS leaders, Congress leaders are not afraid of facing enquiries as they are confident of their honesty. On the other side, KCR sacked Deputy CM D Rajaiah on the charges of corruption, but never explained what those charges were. No action was taken against Minister Jagadish Reddy who allegedly collected kickbacks from private colleges to clear fee reimbursement dues. We have guts to face the enquiry, but KCR too must have guts to order a probe against Congress leaders," he said.

Shabbir Ali said that the Congress would not allow the public money already spent on Pranahita-Chevella to go waste. Besides resorting to agitation, the Congress party will also go to Supreme Court on the issue," he said.

Why Naidu's Heritage Foods is giving ads in KCR's Namasthe Telangana?

Accusing the Chief Ministers, N Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrashekar Rao, of trying to provoke the people of their respective States for political gains, Shabbir Ali alleged that both of them have some kind of 'match-fixing'. He pointed out that Naidu's company, Heritage Dairy, has published a huge advertisement on the front page of 'Namathe Telangana', a Telugu Daily, owned by KCR and his family members. He said that the advertisement, published on Monday's edition, was exclusive for 'Namathe Telangana' and no other newspaper have been given advertisement. "Does it indicate towards some kind of match-fixing between KCR and Naidu?" he asked.

Shabbir Ali pointed out that while speaking on the floor of the House, KCR had accused Naidu of causing damage to State-owned dairy companies like Vijaya Milk to benefit his personal company Heritage Dairy.