A committee appointed by the southern zone branch of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to examine whether the Rayalaseema lift scheme proposed by Andhra Pradesh government requires prior environmental clearance before grounding the project has opined that prima facie it is not applicable in the case of this project.
The committee that comprises members nominated from the expert appraisal committee (on river valley projects) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Prof. Shashidhar of Civil Engineering Department of IIT Hyderabad, Harikesh Meena, Member Secretary of the Krishna River Management Board and T. Mahima, Scientist of the Central Pollution Control Board has, however, recommended that the project proponent shall obtain all applicable clearances and sanction before grounding the scheme.
A virtual meeting of the committee was conducted by the MoEF on July 29 also felt that there would be no environmental impacts on the availability of water on other users, the irrigation and drinking water systems that depend on water from Srisailam reservoir, as long as AP is restricted to draw its allocated share of water. “In order to ensure that only allocated water of 3 tmc ft per day is drawn, AP shall install pumps of the capacity capable of pumping only that much of water a day excluding the safety margins”.
Explaining the features of the scheme, officials of the Water Resources Department of AP informed the committee four lift schemes are presently operational/proposed from the foreshores of Srisailam reservoir – Kalwakurthy lift and Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi lift of Telangana and Malyala lift (Handri-Neeva) and Muchumarri lift (K.C. Canal) of AP. They explained to the committee that Rayalaseema region is dependent on Telugu Ganga Project TGP), Srisailam Right Bank Canal (SRBC) , Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS) and Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal supplementation and all these schemes utilise Krishna water through Pothireddypadu head regulator.
Further, the AP officials told the committee that 111 tmc ft of Krsihna water is allocated to Rayalaseema through these projects based on the KWDT-I award and TGP, SRBC and GNSS are granted to draw 86 tmc ft water at 854 feet level of Srisailam reservoir but it can’t be drawn rom Pothireddypadu with gravity as the required water level is available only for a limited period. Accordingly, Rayalaseema lift is proposed to lift water from 800 feet level to ensure allocated water is drawn.
The committee was of the view that since the existing schemes were unable to drawn allocated water completely and as there is no change in the quantity of water drawal and suggested the KRMB to examine the scheme (Rayalaseema lift) after submission of the detailed project report on the social impact of drawing water from 800 feet level on the existing projects.
