HYDERABAD: Telangana Irrigation Department officials have pointed out to the Krishna River Management Board the err-ors in the gazette notification issued by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, in which Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) is shown as two components.
Telangana engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar, in a letter to the KRMB chairman, pointed out that that the notification says SLBC has only two components, namely SLBC: intake, tunnel, appurtenant structures and Nakkalagandi reservoir serial number 1.11 and at 1.12, SLBC: additional 10 tmcft intake and appurtenant works.
“SLBC is only one component and the second component mentioned in the gazette should be deleted,” Muralidhar urged the KRMB. In his letter, he said that the fact was that the government of undivided AP had enhanced the ayacut under SLBC from three lakh acres to four lakh acres but the quantum of water utilisation was not enhanced co-rrespondingly from 30 tmcft.
“Hence, the Telangana government increased the quantum of water from 30 tmcft to 40 tmcft to commensurate with the ayacut, which was increased from 3 lakh to 4 lakh acres. The same intake is utilised for all the water and no additional intake and appurtenant works are there,” he explained.
Muralidhar said that this fact was already clarified to the KRMB several times. Hence, the component 1.12 may be deleted from the Schedule 1 and 2 of the gazette notification, the EnC demanded. Muralidhar also pointed out that SLBC was proposed with 150 tmcft utilisation through gravity (with a tunnel) before the KWDT-I .
The canal head regulator sill level was kept at above 825 feet level in the Srisailam reservoir. Unfortunately, by 1973, before the KWDT-I, this in-basin scheme was relegated to the surplus waters and the then AP state not accorded priority to this project than the projects serving the outside basin in Andhra areas, Muralidhar said.