Vamsadhara stage-II works come to a standstill

HYDERABAD: The slow reaction on part of the state government in regard to sorting out the dispute with Orissa on Vamsadhara stage-II has brought the Rs 1,000 crore project to a standstill.
The ineffective handling of the case by legal experts from the state when Orissa government filed a petition opposing the project in Supreme Court came as the first blow. The apex court recently ordered the state government to stop the works on balancing reservoir and said that a tribunal be constituted to resolve the issue.The state government did not oppose the Supreme Court's direction for constituting a tribunal. All that it had done was to file a review petition on the court's directive to stop the works.
However, till few months back, the state government went ahead with construction of canals within the state borders. But now even those works have come to a grinding halt as the cash strapped state government had not cleared pending bills of the contractors.
As a result, about three lakh acres under Vamsadhara stage-II will now have to depend on rain water for irrigation purpose. This project was also to have provided drinking water for about 50,000 people which now appears to be a distant dream, according to sources in the irrigation department. Orissa was was objecting to construction of Neradi reservoir claiming that it would result in submergence of 50 villages and lakhs of acres of agricultural land in that state. It also claims that the Vamsadhara project tamper the river course.
The project was conceived as a dream project for upland areas of Srikakulam and was put on the list of fast track projects under Jalayagnam programme as a diversion-canal project.
Irrigation officials claim that Andhra Pradesh had not violated any agreement. Following objections from Orissa, it had even altered the project design so that no village in Orissa would get submerged.