The Hindu Business Line : Babli issue: AP Govt to approach Manmohan

Hyderabad April 11 Taking strong exception to the way the Maharashtra Government is dealing with the Babli dam issue, Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to take up the matter with the Prime Minister.

The State Cabinet, which met here on Wednesday, passed a resolution seeking immediate stoppage of construction work at Babli and condemning the "illegal construction of dam by Maharashtra on land that falls under the jurisdiction of Andhra Pradesh," Mr P. Lakshmiah, Minister for Major and Minor Irrigation, told newspersons."We will also submit the copies of resolution to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Union Minister for Water Resources during our visit to New Delhi which is likely at any time from now," the Minister said.

The Centre had already directed Maharashtra to temporarily halt the construction work at Babli, he added.

Elaborating on the other major decisions taken during the Cabinet meet, Mr Shabbir Ali, Minister for Information, said the earlier order of the Government allotting 487.2 acres of land to Raghuram Cements in Kadapa district has been cancelled. "Due to unwarranted politicisation of the issue, the Cabinet decided to cancel the order and go for public auction of land," Mr Shabbir Ali said.

Further, a panel has been constituted with the Finance Minister, Revenue Minister, Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary and Director of Auditing as members to look into all public account deposits being maintained in commercial banks by officials of various departments. "This is a precaution to avert the possibility of scams as most of the accounts have not been audited for a long time," the Minister said.

The Government has also decided to increase the upper limit of funds being given to the MLAs under Prajapatham programme scheduled to begin from April 14. "As per the budget, each MLA and Minister-in-charge will get Rs 50 lakh per constituency. This has been hiked to Rs 1 crore," he said.

Earlier, Mr P. Laxmaiah, along with some of his Ministerial colleagues and Congress leaders, staged a silent protest over the Babli project issue and walked from the Assembly to Secretariat to attend the Cabinet meeting.

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