HYDERABAD: Former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao on Friday said if Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy wanted a meaningful debate on river water issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he should call a special session of the Assembly.“The BRS is ready for such a discussion. The only condition that we want is that microphones should not be switched off when we are speaking, and the House should not be abruptly adjourned,” Harish Rao said.Harish Rao was responding to the Chief Minister’s call to the BRS to accept his call for a discussion on river waters. The BRS leader was speaking at an impromptu press meet after he met with Justice P.C. Ghose heading the judicial commission inquiring into the Kaleshwaram project barrages.He called the recent PowerPoint presentations by the government on Krishna and Godavari rivers “coverpoint presentations” that were an attempt to “whitewash 50 years of Congress’ betrayals in Telangana.”Harish Rao said Revanth Reddy, on Wednesday during the presentations, “kept repeating a lie” that a “permanent ratio of 299:512 tmc ft water-sharing agreement between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was approved by the then BRS government.”He said, “annual water use is decided by Krishna River Management Boar. Permanent distribution is done by the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal. Utilisation is only for that year, but distribution is permanent. Revanth Reddy does not even understand the difference between temporary water utilisation and permanent allocation.”He said: “if KCR had signed a permanent agreement, why would he later fight for Section 3? Why would he demand a redistribution of Krishna waters based on the 68 per cent catchment area in Telangana? It was because of KCR’s efforts that the tribunal is now deciding on fair water distribution,” Harish Rao said.The BRS leader said that even Uttam Kumar Reddy was unaware of the facts. “While our lawyers are arguing that Telangana should get 763 tmc ft of Krishna waters, Uttam says 573 tmc ft is enough. Such statements are nothing short of a betrayal of Telangana’s interests,” he said.
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