Bifurcation seems to have made Telangana rethink its stand on the Polavaram project, forcing it to join States such as Odisha and Chhattisgarh in approaching the Supreme Court to stall its completion, charge irrigation experts in Andhra Pradesh.
The filing of an affidavit by Telangana in the Supreme Court, asking it to order the Polavaram Authority to conduct a fresh Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is a clear indication of Telangana’s change in stand, they say.
Rythanga Samakhya president and former Drainage Board member Yerneni Nagendranath said the stand of Telangana added to the “uncertainty” of the Polavaram project.
The upstream States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh were already opposed to the project, saying that the safety of people of their States was in question.
They were delaying the due process by stalling public hearings that were an integral part of the procedure to get environmental clearance.
Revision in PMF
And now, Telangana brought up the issue of the Central Water Commission (CWC) revising the probable maximum flood (PMF) to 50 lakh cusecs from the earlier 36 lakh cusecs.
There was always the danger of the courts or the Central Government further reducing the height of the proposed dam, he said.
Officials of the Water Resources Department said the Telangana Government could not technically oppose the project because it had already given consent to it, and, therefore, was trying to ‘implead’ into a case filed by an NGO.
The officials said the revision of the PMF was done not by the State government but by the experts of the Central Government itself and, therefore, no special clearance was needed for it now. If the apex court ordered a fresh EIA, it would become a precedent and the same would have to be done for all other projects that were under construction, they said.
Expiry of eco nod
About the expiry of environment clearance (EC), the officials explained that the EC for an irrigation project was given only for a term of five years and at the end of it the clearance was automatically extended for another term.
The Andhra Pradesh Government had already applied for the extension of the environment clearance, and the same was pending with the Centre, they said.
