The Forest Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has recommended stage-one clearance for acquisition of 1,513 hectares of forest land for the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation project in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district envisaged to irrigate 6.74 lakh acres of ayacut and stabilising existing ayacut of 3.45 lakh acres under other projects.
According to officials of the irrigation department, the committee made the recommendation after a PowerPoint presentation about the project proposals by its chief engineer V. Sudhakar. The process of acquiring forest lands would commence once the order on stage-one approval was issued, the officials said.
About 1,200 hectares forest land in Manuguru, Palvancha and Kothagudem divisions of Bhadadri district and 313 hectares of land in Sattupallu and Khammam forest divisions of Khammam district would be diverted to the Irrigation Department for laying pipelines, construction of gravity canals, structures, power transmission lines, tunnels and distributaries as part of the project.
Delighted over the clearance, Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao asked the officials to take up the process of getting the stage-two clearance. He stated that a request had already been made to Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan for Central Wildlife Board clearance for another 275 hectares of land falling in the eco-sensitive zone. The Minister explained that about 4,050 acres land had been identified in Bhadradri, Khammam and Jagityal districts for compensatory afforestation in lieu of the forest lands being taken for the Sita Rama project. District Collectors concerned had already issued no-objection certificates for diversion of lands to the Forest Department.
He directed the officials to prepare proposals on the funds required for compensatory afforestation. The project proposes to divert 70.40 TMC ft Godavari water from the upstream of existing Dummugudem anicut to provide water for irrigation for command area, minor irrigation tanks en route, drinking water to villages and towns en route and supplementation of some of the existing/proposed irrigation schemes in Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Khammam and Mahabubabad districts.
