From rxpgnews.com
Massive protests in Telangana against Maharashtra barrage
By IANS,
Apr 24, 2007 - 5:14:29 PM
Hyderabad, April 24 - Thousands of farmers and political activists gathered at a dam in Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad district Tuesday to protest the construction of a barrage by neighbouring Maharashtra upstream on the Godavari river.
Organised by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party -, the daylong 'maha dharna' - at the Sri Ram Sagar Project - was attended by 100,000 farmers from five districts of Telangana region. The farmers fear they will be hit hard by the Babli project and are protesting Maharashtra's refusal to stop work on the project.
They maintain the Babli project is likely to affect flow of Godavari waters to the SRSP, which caters to the drinking water and irrigation needs of Telangana.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and dozens of party leaders and activists left Hyderabad in a convoy to join the protest. Naidu said his party would continue the protest till Maharashtra stops work on the project.
Naidu said the Congress government was to blame for the continuing construction of the project. He said the ruling party had failed to exert pressure on the central government to stop work and reiterated his demand for dismissing the Vilasrao Deshmukh government in Maharashtra.
Deshmukh had last week refused to stop work on the project and argued that it was not in violation of inter-state agreements and was taken up with permission from the Central Water Commission. He said his government had also urged union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz to withdraw a directive to stop work.
Andhra Pradesh, which has already approached the Supreme Court, has criticised Deshmukh's stand.
On April 10, the TDP had tried to take out a march towards the Babli project, but the Maharashtra police had caned the activists and arrested some party leaders. The next day a shutdown was observed in five districts on an appeal from the TDP, which was supported by all parties, including the ruling Congress.
Meanwhile, an indefinite fast by Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary N. Indrasena Reddy and other leaders against the Babli project entered the second day Tuesday.
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