Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has sought expeditious approval for the detailed project reports of four projects proposed by the State government on Godavari river.
The projects – Sitarama with an allocation of 70 tmcft, Devadula LIS with barrage at Tupakulagudem (60 tmc), Mukteshwar LIS (4.5 tmc), Ramappa-Pakhal link (3 tmc), Modikunta Vagu (2.14 tmc) and Chowtupally Hanumantha Reddy LIS (0.8 tmc) - were taken up by the government out of the water allocations already approved by the Central Water Commission.
These projects were taken up in lieu of Inchampally project which was allocated 85 tmc by the GWDT award and the inter-State agreement among Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
The Indirasagar and Rajivsagar projects were given in principle allocation of 16 tmc each.
The Devadula LIS was allocated 38 tmc and all relevant clearances for the project were obtained. Thus a total of 155 tmc allocation was obtained from the CWC for these projects, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister sought to clarify to the Union Minister that the 11 projects mentioned as unapproved in Godavari basin through the recent gazette notification (July 15) were started before the formation of Telangana and were well within the 967.94 tmc share of the State. Of the allocation to the State, projects for 758.76 tmc were cleared by the CWC and water availability had been cleared by the Hydrology Directorate for another 148.82 tmc.
The balance allocation of 60.26 tmc had been kept as a reserve for future projects, evaporation losses and other factors.
In a memorandum submitted to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat on Monday, he said a total 155 tmc allocation was obtained for the four projects. The new projects proposed by the State Government totalled to 140.44 tmc., leaving a balance of 14.56 tmc as reserve. “As these projects are taken up by Telangana State out of the water allocations already approved by the CWC, the DPRs of these projects may be expeditiously approved,” Mr. Rao said in the representation.
The Chief Minister clarified that the one tmc/day for Kaleshwaram project was not an addition nor a new project. It had been taken up with the government funds to utilise the 240 tmc allocation made to Kaleshwaram by the CWC within a shorter time period.
As such, it did not require any approval of the Centre, he said. Kandakurthy LIS is a minor scheme serving an ayacut of 3,300 acres and did not require any appraisal.
The Ramappa-Pakhal link and the Tupakulagudema barrage which are part of the Devadula project do not require any new approval while the Gudem LIS is part of the approved Kaddam project constructed to serve tail-end areas and does not need any approval.
The Kanthanapally project which was non-existent should also be dropped from the list of unapproved projects, he said.
