TIRUPATI: After deliberating on the Andhra Pradesh government’s proposal seeking amendment to the existing Environmental Clearances to include Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) under the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2006, the sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) during its meetings held on June 16-17 and July 7 in 2021 had sought the project proponent for information to further consider the proposal, Minister of State for Environment and Forest, and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey told Lok Sabha on Monday in response to a query raised by Tirupati MP Maddila Gurumoorthy.
The Union Minister added that the EAC is yet to receive the information sought from the project proponent.
RLIS, conceived in August 2020, aims to provide water to 19 lakh acres in four Rayalaseema districts – Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur and Chittoor. The scheme will draw three TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water per day from Srisailam Reservoir near Sangameshwaram and pump it into the Srisailam right main canal (SRMC) and further feed various irrigation canals in the four districts.
Kumar said the panel had asked the project proponent to submit a holistic report on water availability in the river, with the existing and future schemes, including hydropower projects, as envisaged in the approved master plan for River Developments.
The EAC also sought a study showing the pre and post-project temporal simulations of the drawl of water from the reservoir, the status of other similar water lifting projects in the region/neighbouring States, along with the status of environmental clearance of such projects, besides data on the location of wildlife sanctuary and other ecological habitats likely to be affected by the reduced levels in the reservoir post construction of the project.