VIJAYAWADA: The State governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have a tedious task ahead of getting the “unapproved” projects in Krishna and Godavari basins cleared by January 14, 2022, which is six months from July 15 – the day the Centre notified the jurisdictions of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), as projects sans permits “shall cease to operate” from the said date. While both the States have over a dozen unapproved projects each, AP has submitted the detailed project reports (DPRs) of five Krishna and two Godavari projects to the respective river management boards.
The Telangana government has submitted no DPR to either of the boards so far. In response to an RTI query filed by TNIE on the compliance of both the States with the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s directions on DPRs, the KRMB revealed the details of the projects submitted by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. "No DPRs have been received from the government of Telangana."
The following DPRs were received from the government of AP and this office communicated certain observations/remarks on their proposals: Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, Vedavathi LIS, Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) Right Canal, Gundrevula Reservoir and Guru Raghavendra LIS,” said KRMB Superintending Engineer (SE) and Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) RV Prakash, in the reply dated July 13.
TS has not submitted even one DPR, AP furnished 2, says Godavari board
Interestingly, even though the KRMB revealed that the RLIS DPR was submitted, pending clearance, the same has not been included in the schedules of the gazette notifications issued the other day by the Centre defining the jurisdictions of KRMB and GRMB. RLIS is the project that has triggered a fresh row of water between the two States. However, the Centre included Telangana’s projects in both the basins such as Palamuru Rangareddy, Kalwakurthy, Kaleshwaram third TMC component, Nettempadu and others even though the neighbouring State has not submitted the DPRs.
The GRMB too clarified that Telangana has not furnished even a single DPR, while AP submitted two which were not in the prescribed format. “It is to inform that two project reports (DPRs) namely Pattiseema LIS and Purushottapatnam LIS, not fully complying with the MoJS guidelines for the preparation of DPR, were furnished by the government of AP. No DPR has been received from the government of Telangana so far,” GRMB SE and CPIO M Ravi Kumar stated in the reply to a query dated July 8.
Incidentally, the GRMB had written to both the States on July 16 once again. It noted that both the States have not furnished the DPRs despite repeated requests.It may be recalled that Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had written to the Chief Ministers of AP and Telangana in January this year directing them to submit DPRs for the projects that were not appraised by the authorities concerned or cleared by the apex council. In his letters, he listed 15 projects (eight on Krishna and seven on Godavari) of Telangana and 19 (15 on Krishna and four on Godavari) of AP. The list of AP’s projects also included proposed projects that did not make it to the schedules of the KRMB and GRMB jurisdiction gazette notifications published the other day.
AP water resources officials maintained that they are in the process of submitting the details sought by the river boards. “Regular correspondence between us and the boards is happening with respect to the submission of DPRs in the prescribed format. We are in the process of furnishing the details sought,” an official said.
The State government is also considering writing to the Centre to exclude from getting approval the projects that have been in operation and serving the needs of ayacut. “Some projects like the LIS at Venkatanagaram, Siddapuram and Guru Raghavendra LIS were completed long ago. Others like Pattiseema, Purushottapatnam and Chintalapudi, are not related to interstate waters. So, some of these issues need to be addressed,” the official explained.