Move on River Boards pushes Telangana into a corner

Hyderabad: The fate of 26 projects on Krishna and Godavari is in jeopardy following the Union Government's notification to take over all irrigation projects by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB).

According to the notification, all the unapproved projects should get approval before October 14 from the day the notification becomes effective. The State Government is now wondering whether to stop the works immediately and pursue with the process of getting clearances before October 14 or to continue with the works pending approval from these two boards.

The project works cannot be completed by that time and it may also prove to be a herculean task to get all necessary clearances within six months since no approvals can be accorded without water allocation, officials feel. The issue was reviewed at a meeting on Monday chaired by Special Chief Secretary for Irrigation Rajat Kumar. It is now learnt that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would convene a high-level meeting within a week to seek legal and expert views on the Centre delegating powers to the KRMB and GRMB in the management of all projects and finalise an action plan to protect the interests of the State.

Meanwhile, senior engineers and irrigation experts have been asked to prepare a detailed report on utilisation of Telangana's share of water from the new projects. It may be mentioned here that the Bachawat Tribunal had allocated 299 tmc feet of water from Krishna. The Telangana State was using only 60 per cent of its share, officials claim. They said the new projects have been taken up to ensure 100 per cent utilisation of the allocated water. The TS government was demanding 1,000 tmc ft of water from Godavari. Currently, not more than 300 tmc ft of water is being used. Officials said that the government was also studying administrative, technical and legal challenges to be encountered by Telangana in the enforcement of central notification.

It may be recalled that 12 projects on River Godavari, including the enhancement of the capacity of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation by 1 tmc feet per day, Sitarama (Rajiv Dummugudem) Lift irrigation scheme, Tapukulagudem and PV Narasimha Rao Kanthalapally barrage have been declared as unapproved projects. On Krishna, 14 projects mainly Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme, Dindi (Nakkalagandi) LIS, Nettempadu LIS, Srisailam Left Bank Canal and Bhakta Ramadas LIS have been listed as unapproved projects.