Continuation of KLIP 3rd TMC works put a burden of Rs 30K cr

Hyderabad: Questions were raised about the ongoing work on the third TMC component of the Kaleshwaram project at a time when the Union Jala Sakti Ministry appointed an NDSA team under the chairmanship of Chandrasekhar Ayyar.

The reason is that the State has to bear a whopping Rs 30,000 crore if the third TMC works are allowed to continue.

Advisor to the Union Jal Sahakti Ministery Sriram Vadire expressed shock over the continuation of the works despite the recent developments bringing several issues related to the KLIP and Medigadda.

Terming the third TMC component as meaningless, he said the project is planned to lift 2 TMC per day for 96 days to utilise about 195 TMC of water and give irrigation to 18.25 lakh acres of new command area.

The BRS mentioned that they would want to lift three TMC per day for 65 days to lift the same 195 TMC of water. Thus, there is no additional water storage or any additional command area added with this third TMC component, but the cost has been increased by another 30,000 crore. There is no need to lift water in 65 days as compared to 96 days as there are 120 flood days each year to draw waters, as was measured by CWC," he underlined.

Further, the CWC has denied approval for the third TMC component in 2021, and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) has notified this project as unapproved.

The CWC had clearly mentioned its observations that there was no justification by Telangana regarding spending an additional Rs 30,000 crore.

It also pointed out that since the cost of electricity charges had gone up from Rs 3.0 per unit to Rs 6.3 per unit to negate that, the Telangana government increased the yield of the crop as well as the rate of the crop in a matter of a few months between April 2022 and January 2023.

Against this backdrop, the CWC has found that the expenditure of an additional Rs 30,000 crore on additional works does not seem justified and informed the State government. Even after the change of government, the work is continuing, he said.