The ordinance on the Indira Sagar Project (ISP) cleared by President Pranab Mukherjee, allowing the merger of 205 habitations from seven mandals in Khammam district of Telangana with Andhra Pradesh, has drawn mixed reactions from experts and peasant representatives in the Godavari delta.
A section of people from the region, who are the beneficiaries, welcomed the development, while others expressed serious doubts over the capacity of the ordinance in its present form to help the project overcome R&R hiccups.
K. Harinath, Superintending Engineer with the Irrigation Department who extended his services to the ISP as a consultant on technical matters, described the government’s initiative as “half-baked”. It is believed that the ordinance cannot find a lasting solution to the R&R problems facing the project, as a major chunk of land (60,000 acres) identified for relocation of the victims of the project still remains out of the purview of the cluster of villages listed out for secession from Telangana.
He recalled that the erstwhile YSR government had identified 90,000 acres for the relocation of victims in 11 mandals in Khammam district and had called for the merger of the remaining four mandals with the successor State to make the R&R process complete.
P.A. Ramakrishnam Raju, a Bhimavaram-based irrigation expert, said the ordinance was good for the people of the Godavari delta.
“The move will legitimise the diversion of the Sileru water for the Godavari delta during water crisis during rabi season,” he added.
It is a common practice every year to draw the Sileru water at the rate of 4,000 cusecs per day for protection of the standing paddy crop during rabi season in the delta for at least three months.
The merger will facilitate the supply of hydel power generated from the Sileru waters at Mothugudem, presently in Khammam district, to the residuary State at cheaper rates, Mr. Raju felt.
M.V. Suryanarayana Raju, a spokesman of Godavari Delta Parirakshana Samithi, said it would wage a legal battle for inclusion of the remaining four mandals also from Khammam district.
