Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has asked the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to take the initiative to submit the detailed projects reports (DPRs) of all new projects taken up by the two governments as agreed at the Apex Council meeting held on October 6, last.
In separate letters addressed to Chief Ministers of Telangana and AP K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, respectively, he reminded them of the decision taken at the Apex Council meeting, wherein they had agreed to submit the DPRs of all new projects to the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards (KRMB and GRMB) constituted under the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.
The Union Minister said that while AP had submitted only one DPR out 19 new projects taken up after the bifurcation of combined AP including 15 in the Krishna basin and 4 in Godavari basin, Telangana had not given the DPR of any of the 15 projects taken up including 7 in Krishna and 8 in Godavari basins. The AP had submitted the DPR of Purushottapatnam lift irrigation scheme, he noted.
Not only the submission of DPRs to the river boards for their appraisal, but the two State governments were also required to secure other statutory approvals and clearances for going ahead with the new projects, the Union Minister said in his letter to the two CMs. Submission of DPRs was necessary to resolve the lingering disputes, he felt.
Mr. Shekhawat reiterated the Ministry’s earlier directions to AP for submission of DPR on the controversial Rayalaseema Lift Scheme aimed at diverting over 8 tmc ft of Krishna water from Srisailam reservoir every day by taking up new project at Sangameshwaram and enhancing the water drawal capacity of the existing Pothireddypadu Head Regulator to 80,000 cusecs. Similarly, he pointed out the need to submit the DPR of lifting the third tmc ft of water as part of Kaleshwaram project.
In spite of the two river boards’ repeated letters and reminders to the two States for submission of the DPRs of all new projects and the Ministry’s directions to get the appraisal done for the new projects by submitting the DPRs, the two State Governments had been arguing that several projects termed as new ones by the MoJS were in fact old ones and contending that there was no necessity to submit their DPRs.
