HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has shot off a letter to the Krishna River Management Board requesting that the two components of the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme be treated as a single component in the Gazette Notification issued on July 15 this year.
TS Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar pointed out that in the gazette notification, the Kalwakurthy LIS was shown as having two components - 1.14 KLIS: Pump House and appurtenant works and 1.15 KLIS- Additional 15 tmcft: Pump House and appurtenant works. He clarified that the capacity of the Kalwakurthy LIS was not enhanced to utilise additional 15 tmcft from the original scope of the project but was earmarked by the TS government to commensurate with the ayacut envisaged by the undivided AP government.
The same fact has already been clarified to the KRMB several times, the letter said. Muralidhar clarified that the KLIS was taken by undivided AP to irrigate 2.5 lakh acres in Mahabubangar district, lifting 25 tmcft from Srisailam reservoir as per a GO issued in December 1997. Later, the ayacut was increased to 3.65 lakh acres but water utilisation commensurate with the enhancement of the ayacut was not increased.
Hence the TS government, as part of re-engineering, enhanced the water requirement from 25 tmcft to 40 tmcft in proportion to the ayacut and sought allocation from 75 per cent dependable flows in the Krishna river and it was presented before the KWDT-II, the letter said. Referred to KWDT-I, Muralidhar stated that while allocating water for future uses, inside basin uses should get preference. He said the KRMB may look into the dire needs of the in-basin areas of TS and undo the injustice meted out to those areas and sought removal of component No: 1.15 from the notification.