In a historic and important event in the history of the new state of Andhra Pradesh, CM Chandrababu Naidu has released the water from Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLIS) which is touted as the first river linking project in the country. As the commissioning of all the 24 pumps were completed and in working condition, Naidu has released the water on Wednesday. The PLIS has started its full-fledged functioning from today. Irrigation Minister Devineni Uma, Agricultural Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao, Ministers Peethala Sujatha, Kollu Raveendra, Kamineni Srinivas, P Manikyala Rao, several MPs, MLAs and TDP leaders were present to witness the important event in the AP history.

Twenty-four 6,300 horse power motors and another 24 numbers of 5,300 horse power with the capacity to lift 8,500 cusecs were commissioned. The construction of a delivery cistern has also been in place. The PLIS has the capacity to lift 80 tmcft of water in 110 flood days. The lifting water is to cater to the needs of farmers in Krishna and Guntur districts.

Normally the benefit of an irrigation project can be seen only after completion, but with the PLIS farmers were apparently benefited even before the project was completed. The Project has been completed in the stipulated time of one year which is considered as a record whereas other irrigation projects had to be given several extensionsMegha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which made PLIS possible, said that this is first-of-its-kind project not only in the sub-continent but also the entire world.

The Telangana state government has filed a cyber complaint against Andhra Pradesh state government. Alleging AP of cyber plagiarism, Telangana state government approached Ministry of Commerce to look into the issue. Industry Minister KT Rama Rao has written letter to Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman asking her to take note of the issue and take necessary action. Telangana government has filed a cyber theft case against the Andhra Pradesh government alleging that AP had copied a couple of ‘interfaces’ Telangana had developed for its Commercial Courts application. This is first-of-its kind cyber complaint made by a state government against another state government.

It all started when Telangana reportedly identified that AP has copied its interfaces in its application as part of the ‘World Bank’s much touted Ease of Doing Business index’ and both the neighbouring states vying up for good rank in the index. Hosted on a website run by the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion), the dynamically changing list assesses various States based on their performance on a host of parameters. Although the ranking index doesn’t necessitate any additional financial benefits, the states have been using these ranks for marketing and attracting investors.

Andhra Pradesh stood second only next to Gujarat in the first-ever rankings in September 2015, leaving Telangana at the 13th rank. This said to have invited flak from Telangana. “This has surprised us because we have announced a business friendly Industrial Policy. We then decided to take it seriously. We have submitted all the 340 queries as required and submitted before the deadline of June 30,” Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce), said.

But the deadline was extended by a week and allowed States to upload data about the programmes implemented before June 30. “To our shock, we see two templates in our Commercial Courts modules were copied and used by the Andhra Pradesh government. This is nothing but plagiarism,” the Principal Secretary said.

Meanwhile, the government of Andhra Pradesh has termed Telangana’s allegations as baseless. “AP has second rank after Gujarat in ease of doing business. Why should we copy matter from Telangana which is in the 13th position?,” Parakala Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications), Government of Andhra Pradesh, told media persons on Wednesday. Referring to similarities of a spelling mistake and a specific nomenclature in references, he said it could be possible as both states could be quoting from a common High Court order.