The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, said it was for the Union government to set up a new constitutional authority with adequate powers to deal with violations in inter-state water disputes.
The authority should be vested with the power to protect the rights of lower riparian states, he told this correspondent while talking about the vexed Babli dispute with Maharashtra.Mr Rosaiah, who left for a four-day visit to Delhi, would be leading a delegation of all parties to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on the Babli issue and would also be attending the meeting of the national development council. “Some sections are demanding a political decision on such disputes but it is not possible as long as governments keep on changing and Chief Ministers come and go,” he said.
He said the main culprit in the Babli issue was Maharashtra which deliberately violated the CWC orders, resolutions in the Chief Minister’s conference and even the Supreme Court’s interim directions.
The Chief Minister, however, hoped that the meeting with the PM on July 26 would throw up a solution. He also blamed the TD for failing to take action to prevent Babli project works when Maharashtra started construction in 2003.
The government was not complacent on the issue and it was the TD which was sleeping when Maharashtra prepared the designs, called for tenders and started work, said the Chief Minister.
“Mr Naidu knew all these things but he deliberately allowed the works to commence,” said Mr Rosaiah. “But when the Congress came to power in 2004 it took up the issue with Central Water Commission. We also filed a contempt petition in Supreme Court and obtained favourable orders but unfortunately Maharashtra is not implementing them.”
However, he refused to respond to the criticism by the TD leaders. “How can you expect me to respond to the harsh abusive language used by them including Mr Naidu,” he said. “It is below my dignity.”
