Telangana seeks Centre's intervention to stop AP from illegal expansion of Polavaram project

New Delhi: The Telangana government on Tuesday demanded the Centre to take action against the Andhra Pradesh government over the "illegal" and "unapproved" expansion of the Polavaram Irrigation Project, affecting the 'rightful' share of Godavari water to the state. Raising this issue in a meeting with Union Jal Sakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat here, Telangana Finance Minister Harish Rao also demanded early appraisal and clearance of the Palamaru Rangareddy LI Scheme.

He also requested Shekhawat to expedite approvals of four DPRs (detail project reports) of Sita Rama LIS, Sammakka Sagar Project, additional TMC of Kaleshwaram Project, and Dr B R Ambedkar Wardha Project.

Besides this, Rao requested the Union minister to refer Telangana's complaint under Section-3 of the Inter State Water Disputes Act to a tribunal for a fair and equitable allocation of Krishna waters, as constitutional right being a newly formed state.

In a representation made to Shekhawat, Rao claimed that the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh was "unilaterally and illegally either expanding many components or constructing new projects which are part of the overall Polavaram project, on the behest of using flood waters". The expansion of Right Main Canal (RMC) and Left Main Canal (LMC) are done so that the carriage capacity of these canals can accommodate two to three times more water than what is legally allowed, he claimed.

"It is requested to intervene and direct the state of Andhra Pradesh to stop from proceeding ahead with the above mentioned unauthorised expansion of LMC and RMC, and the construction of unapproved projects of Polavaram reservoir which are affecting the riparian rights of Telangana," Rao said. In the meeting, the state minister informed that Andhra Pradesh was creating nearly 1,500 TMC carrying capacity against an allocation of 493 TMC.

"This will affect Telangana's claims on Godavari surplus waters later," he said.

Over and above allocated water is transported through both these "illegally" expanded LMC and RMC to give water to lakhs of acres of new command areas, which are neither part of approved command areas of Polavaram nor approved as independent projects by the Central Water Commission and Technical Advisory Committee, he said.

Since Polavaram is a national project, the responsibility of ensuring construction of the project as per the originally approved technical parameters and also ensuring that the out-of-scope components/projects are not expanded/constructed lies with the central government, he added

Inputs from PTI