Obviously coming under pressure from the opposition parties, the TRS government led by CM KCR on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against the Rayalaseema lift scheme proposed to be constructed by the Jagan government in AP on Krishna river.
The Telangana government filed the e-petition in the Supreme Court seeking to stay the tender process for the Rayalaseema lift scheme.
It appealed to the court to see that the AP government would not make any further moves on this project, apart from the expansion of Pothireddypadu lift scheme/
The Jagan government on July 27 issued a notification inviting tenders for the construction of Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project (RLIP), aimed at lifting 34,722 cusecs of water per day from Srisailam Reservoir on Krishna river from a depth of 800 feet.
The tenders worth Rs 3,278.18 crore were called for the construction of the project under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis within 30 months.
The last date for filing of tenders is August 10 and the technical and commercial bids would be opened on August 12 and 13. After reverse tendering on August 17, the successful bidder would be finalised by August 19.
The Telangana government has already lodged a complaint with Krishna River Management Board, which asked the AP government to stall the process for RLIP. A separate petition was also filed by a Telangana activist in the National Green Tribunal.
The issue was to come up before the apex council meeting of the Union water resources ministry on Wednesday, but the meeting did not take place as KCR opted to stay away from it because of the cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Union water resources minster Gajendra Singh Shekawat has also gone into self-quarantine after meeting home minister Amit Shah, who tested positive for Covid-19.