The water grid programme of the Telangana government will require an estimated 4,265 acres of forest land passing through 2,157 km for laying pipelines and powerlines.
The maximum extent of 1,027 acres over 519 km was required in forest-rich Adilabad. In addition, another 118 acres of forest land was required for the construction of structures as water treatment plants, sumps and pumping stations. The structures will also require 334 acres of government land, 319 acres of patta, 6 acres of porambok, 23 acres of assigned and 41 acres of other lands, an official meeting attended by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was informed through a presentation on Sunday.
It was decided to secure blanket clearances for all components of the programme from the forest and the roads and buildings department. Forest clearance comprising right of way for pipelines will be sought with a width of 8 metres to provide for watch and ward. The draft legislation on right of way will be taken to the Cabinet next week.
The pipelines will pass through 16,208 km of road length maintained by R & B department and 29,721 km of rural roads. A total of 39.19 tmc – 19.61 tmc in Krishna basin and 19.58 tmc in Godavari basin – was required to implement the programme. There will be 18,160 overhead reservoirs.
The meeting noted that the survey was completed in all districts, except Nizamabad. No decision was taken in respect of 166 rural habitations inside of outer ring road here. The works were proposed to be entrusted to contractors in 4 out of 26 segments by February 19 and completed in two years.
The detailed design for these segments will be over by this month end.
A feature of the programme is mandating Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board to supply 66.25 million gallons of water a day to parts of Medak, Warangal and Ranga Reddy districts from its tapping points on the Godavari drinking water supply scheme at Kondapak in Medak and Ghanpur in Warangal. Raw water will be supplied at a charge to industries and all municipalities and corporations other than Hyderabad.
