Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project: Black flags waved at Telangana CM

Chandrapur: Black flags were waved at Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao as he performed the ground breaking ceremony and laid foundation stone of ambitious Kaleshwaram irrigation project on the bank of Godavari river on Maharashtra-Telangana border on Monday. Congress activist led by deputy leader of state assembly of Congress, Vijay Wadettiwar chanted “KCR Go Back” and waved black flags from across the river on Maharashtra side in Gadchiroli, as protesters were denied crossing river to reach Telangana side where CM K Chandrashekar Rao's programme was underway.
Anticipating the severe protests, Gadchiroli police had deployed strong bandobast along the Maharashtra side of the project along Godavari river. Local sources claimed that police department even served notices to anti-project activists in Sironcha tehsil under section 149 on Sunday warning them not to participate in the protest.
Group of protesters led by Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar was stopped by the strong police posse; however protesters managed to reach Poachampalli ghat on Maharashtra side of Godavari.
While Telangana CM performed bhoomipuja on other side of the river, protesters waved black flags and chanted slogans flaying both Telangana and Maharashtra CMs as they were denied crossing the river. Anticipating any eventuality in the highly Naxal infested area, the Telangana government had deployed equally strong police protection on the other side of river.
Speaking to TOI Wadettiwar said, “Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and guardian minister Ambrishrao Atram have betrayed the people of Gadchiroli. Our government has signed an MoU with the Telangana government without evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the project and its effects on the local people.”
“Thanks to the surrender of CM Fadnavis before Telangana, their CM has dared to lay the foundation stone of the project that would submerge 13 villages and more than 20,000 acres of very fertile irrigated land,” he said.
He alleged that Fadnavis acted under the pressure of Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao who hails from Telangana.
Wadettiwar said that no one will oppose the project if both the states are equally benefited by the project. He however maintained that while Telangana will reap all the benefits of the project, Maharashtra would have only losses on its part. If the height of the barrage rises over 100 metres, as many as 13 villages along the river bank on Gadchiroli side will completely submerge. Similarly, fertile and irrigated land in stretch of more than 20,000 acres of agricultural land where two crops are taken in a year will be lost, he said.
The Congress leader claimed that government has not even bothered to carry out the survey of the area where the Kaleshwaram project is coming up. Fadnavis government does not know how many villages will be submerged, how much land will be lost? They do not know which village will be needed to be rehabilitated and what number of families will be affected in these villages.
Wadettiwar held that people are reeling under fear of losing their home and their land, while our government has submitted completely to the neighbouring state, overlooking the plight of its own people.
Wadettiwar claimed that they are all set to challenge the Kaleswaram project in the high court. While legal battle will be fought in the court of law, they would continue ground level resistance to project and will stall any construction work of project on Maharashtra side, he said. Former MLA and leader of Adiwasi Vidyardhi Sanghtna, Deepak Atram too staged protest with his supporters on the Maharashtra side of the Godavari river.