BJP TODAY

October 1--15, 2005 - Vol. 14, No. 19

Centre has overlooked
the SC rulings: Yediyurappa
From Our Correspondent

The Karnataka BJP State unit has highlighted a serious lapse on the part of Karnataka State Government. The Union Minister of Water Resourses, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, had conducted a meeting on August 22, 2005 on the flood situation in the State of Karnataka and Maharastra. Under the guise of handling the flood situation, the minister has addressed a letter to the Chief Ministers of the two States to maintain the Alamati Dam level at 509 meters, which is much against to the Hon'ble Supreme Court decision and Planning Commission approval of Dam level to the hight of 519.60 meters. This important matter has been suppressed and not made public by the Karnataka Government whih failed to protect the interests of the State.

Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Shri B.S. Yediyurappa, has taken up this issue by submitting a Memorandum to the Hon'ble Prime Minister and requested him to intervene in the matter to safeguard the interests of the State on September 1, 2005. The issue has been made public through media in the press meet held by him on September 2, 2005 and the same has created great awareness in that area and the BJP has decided to make a prime issue and decided to fight for the cause of Karnataka and in particular the most backward area, namely Northern Karnataka, which is the main beneficiary of Alamatti dam.

The Maharashtra Government has indulged in unethical and clever practices to build up make-believe evidence against the State to demand an undue share of Krishna waters under Scheme B of the Bachawat Tribunal Award, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Shri B.S. Yediyurappa has alleged.

He told presspersons that the Supreme Court and the Bachawat Tribunal in their respective rulings have unambiguously observed that the maximum storage at the Alamatti dam be kept at 519.6 m. But the Maharashtra Minister for Water Resources reportedly stated at a press conference that the Centre has asked Karnataka to restrict the storage to 509 m, ignoring the rulings given by the two august bodies. His reported statement amounted to running down the verdict of the Supreme Court and the award of the Bachawat Tribunal on the maximum storage to be maintained at the Alamatti dam. It is unfortunate that even Union Minister for Water Resources, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, has reportedly overlooked both the rulings in responding positively to Maharashtra's motivated claims, ignoring the legal position, he said.

The Maharashtra Government is out to raise another controversy on the sharing of Krishna waters, create confusion and gain advantage through presenting fake evidence. Its intention can be discerned from the interest it showed in storing waters in all its five dams in July instead of September. It deliberately released water from its dams even as villages and towns across the border Karnataka were coping with unprecedented floods, he said.

Shri Yediyurappa attacked the Government for what he called its complacent attitude towards the serious issue and its failure to draw the Centre's attention to the manoeuvrings of the Maharashtra Government.

"Our Minister for Water Resources Shri M. Mallikarjun Kharge believes only in issuing statements. Even Chief Minister Shri N. Dharam Singh did not think that it was his right to give a fitting reply to Union Minister for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar when the latter passed an undue comment on the sensitive Cauvery waters issue forgetting that he was on an official visit to the State representing the Union Government. The Government and the Congress leaders have failed to protect the State's interests and assert their political will," Shri Yediyurappa said.

He demanded that Shri Dharam Singh lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to draw his attention to the Maharashtra Government's motives.