Bangalore, May 28: Brushing aside protests from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna today said the state would go ahead with its Chitravathi project to provide water supply to villages in Kolar district. "..There is no question of going back whatever be the opposition", he said in the wake of objection from Andhra Pradesh whose MPs had met President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Delhi pleading against the project and seeking their intervention.

Krishna said Chitravathi project was meant for drinking water purpose and not for irrigation. The state would also explain its position to the President and Prime Minister.

"Should not the state discharge its responsibility of providing drinking water," he asked and said the government would not shirk its responsibility.

Krishna was speaking after inaugurating the HUDCO-funded waste water recycling plant, said to be the country's largest, of the Bangalore water supply and sewage board at Vrishabhavathy valley here.

Andhra Pradesh MPs had claimed in their memorandum that the construction of Anicut across the river Chitravathi near Aradogu in Kolar district by Karnataka was an "unilateral and illegal action" which would cause "untold misery" to water-starved villages in Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Bureau Report