Land acquisition for the proposed reservoir to store 20 tmcft of water for the city is likely to set off a fresh controversy, with a large chunk of the land required for the same being private land.
Efforts have begun to acquire land for one among the two proposed reservoirs at Keshavapuram of Shamirpet, with Managing Director of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) M. Dana Kishore approaching Medchal Joint Collector Dharma Reddy, asking him to expedite land acquisition for what is touted as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s pet project.
A total of 3,822 acres of land will be needed for construction of the reservoir, of which, over 2,000 acres are scheduled as private land. About 900 acres will be diverted from forest land, which will have its own procedural delays, with the remaining being government land.
“I have requested the Joint Collector for constituting land acquisition units for speedy completion of the project. Already, Forest survey has begun for alienation of land. We have written to the government for allotment of revenue land for compensatory afforestation,” Mr. Dana Kishore said.
The project cost of Rs.8,000 crore will include the amount to be spent on land acquisition. Once begun, the project will take three years for completion. Permission for diversion of forest land needs to get clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
On the likelihood of controversies over private land acquisition, Mr. Dana Kishore said the government was ready to pay Rs.10 lakh to 12 lakh per acre, which is said to be the market value. Shamirpet is part of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, with high real estate value.
Surveys are under way for another reservoir of the same scale at Devalammanagar of Malkapur near Choutuppal. The Shamirpet reservoir will have Krishna river as its source, while the other will get water from Godavari. The two reservoirs are being planned with a view to providing drinking water to the city in the next 30 to 40 years of time, authorities say. The two together will be able to provide 750 million litres of water per day for city requirements.
