HYDERABAD: The State Irrigation Department urged the Central Water Commission to take immediate steps to resolve all the concerns raised by Telangana with regard to the submergence of its areas under the Polavaram project being constructed in Andhra Pradesh.
In a letter to the CWC chairman on Wednesday, Irrigation engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar recalled that since the formation of Telangana, several representations have been made to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, CWC and Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) to safeguard the territory of Telangana, which face the threat of submergence due to the standing water at FRL condition and due to backwater effects of the project.
Telangana also filed a petition in the Supreme Court with a main plea to ensure all the protection measures be undertaken in the State affected due to the backwaters causing submergence and flooding of areas.
Later, the State also raised objections at the four meetings convened by CWC, consequent to the Supreme Court’s order issued on September 2022.
“However, there is no action from the Andhra Pradesh and total lack of coordination on the part of PPA. To focus the concerns of the State, the Centre filed compliance affidavit on September 1, 2023 inter alia stating that ‘the officials(s) of Government of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana gave their consent for joint survey for issues pertaining to Telangana based on survey results necessary measure is to be taken by PPA and government of Andhra Pradesh as may be required and thus matter was resolved for taking further actions’. However, this stand of the Centre is totally contrary to the ground reality as none of the activities have been undertaken. Under these circumstances, it is once again requested to take immediate steps to resolve all the concerns raised by Telangana in line with the submission made by the Centre in the compliance affidavit before the Supreme Court,” Muralidhar said in his letter.
Telangana’s concerns