TG writes to CWC, opposes Banakacherla

Hyderabad: In its bid to register a strong protest against the Banakacherla project taken up by the Andhra Pradesh government before the Union government, the Telangana government has written a strongly worded letter to the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Polavaram Project Authority (PPA).

In his missive to the CWC Chairman, state Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation) Mohd Amjad Hussain said the Telangana government has already raised several objections as regards the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link project (PBLP) that is proposed by the AP government.

He sought action as per the provisions of the AP Reorganization Act 2014. The official pointed out that the ministry of Jal Shakti has directed CWC to reject the pre-feasibility report and also requested the union ministry of Environment and Forests not to undertake any appraisal of the Banakacherla proposal and outrightly reject grant of ToR (Terms of Reference) in the upcoming meeting of EAC

“Further, external agencies like Polavaram Project Authority(PPA) and Godavari River Management Board(GRMB) have communicated the observations/remarks on the PFR and explicitly stated that the diversion of additional 200 TMof water is not part of the approved DPR of Polavaram Project and contravenes with the operation schedule of Polavaram dam as envisaged in Annexure-G of GWDTA 1980”, Amjad Hussain has said in the letter

The state government also furnished the comments of the State on the PFR stating that

the project proposal envisages extensive changes in the dimensional features of components of Polavaram project and reiterating that AP's PBLP proposal is in violation of APRA' 2014, GWDTA, PPA & EC and infringe water rights of Telangana besides creating adverse backwater and cascading submergence effects, He requested against undertaking any appraisal of the P-B link project.

The officials brought to the attention of the central water agency that the AP Water Resources department had issued a tender notification for preparing Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Polavaram-Banakacherla link project although Telangana sought an outright rejection of the project.