CM urges PM to halt Babli project in Maharashtra

Hyderabad, Mar 6 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and ensure that Maharashtra stopped the construction of Babli project across the river Godavari taken up against the Central Water Commission's direction.

Maintaining that Maharashtra was going ahead with the project illegally, Dr Reddy told a press conference here tonight that a public interest litagation (PIL) was also likely to be moved in the Supreme Court.

Contending that Maharashtra had started the Babli project in the backwaters of the Sriramsagar project in the land for which compensation had been paid by the Andhra Pradesh Government, he said ''Maharashtra taking up the project is totally incorrect.'' Congress MPs from Nizamabad district which would be affected by the project, would meet the Prime Minister in a day or two to press the demand, the Chief Minister informed.

The Maharashtra government which had halted the project for some time on the direction from the CWC, had once again started the project work on February 28, he recalled.

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