Maharashtra, Andhra spar over Babhali barrage

Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh (AP) are on collision course over a small barrage on the Godavari at Babhali village in Nanded district.

An angry group of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) workers, led by former AP home minister Ravindra Gouda, who wanted to forcefully stop the barrage's construction work, was prevented by the Maharshtra police from entering into the state.

The Babhali barrage, which has a storage capacity of 2.74 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), has remained a bone of contention since 2005. A public interest litigation (PIL) by one Madhu Gauda as well as a writ petition by the AP government were filed in the Supreme Court in 2006.

The issue started gathering momentum after the apex court refused to grant status quo last month as requested by the Andhra government, and set the next date of hearing in the last week of April.

On Monday, a resolution was passed in the politburo meeting of TDP to stop work on the barrage, even by use of force if necessary, following which the protest march led by Gouda moved towards the Maharshtra border.

The main contention of the AP government is that the Babhali barrage will dry up the Pochampad dam in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. This will bring more distress to the farmers of this backward area and make the drinking water problem more acute.

Participating on the discussion to a call of attention motion over the issue in the state legislative council on Tuesday, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said, "We strongly condemn the action of the TDP workers and we are going to write a protest letter to the Andhra Pradesh government over the issue."