Latest news with #KWDT-IAward
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Banakacherla Link Project goes against Bachawat Tribunal Award: Telangana
HYDERABAD: The Telangana government informed the Ministry of Jal Shakti that the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP) is against the Bachawat Tribunal Award. In a letter to the secretary of Jal Shakti, Telangana Irrigation principal secretary Rahul Bojja said on Thursday: 'The present proposal of PBLP diverting Godavari Water to other Basins via Krishna Basin without supplementing water to Krishna Basin areas contravenes KWDT-I Award'. The Telangana government sent its comments on the pre-feasibility report (PFR) on Andhra Pradesh's PBLP. The main purpose of this diversion project is to stabilise the existing projects in the Pennar basin spanning the Rayalaseema region, and western parts of Prakasam and Nellore districts that depend on inflows into Srisailam reservoir on the flood based project. Stabilisation to above projects is considered at 50% of its water requirements. New Irrigation potential is about three lakh hectares including taking up Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) Phase-II, new command between Bollapalle reservoir and Banakacherla Regulator, Orvakallu Lift Irrigation Scheme (for western parts of Kurnool district), Gandikota LIS, Gandikota-CBR Lifts 1 to 6, Somasila high level canal LIS Ph-1, GNSS lifts and Badvel lifts on Telugu Ganga Project (TGP). The share of the new ayacut is 60 tmcft. The stabilisation ayacut of 9.14 lakh hectares and as well as the contemplated ayacut of three lakh hectares do not come under Godavari river basin and it entirely covers the regions of Krishna/Pennar basin which needs to be relooked, the Telangana letter said. As per the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal Award (GWDTA), there is no clause for allocating the floodwater among the basin States.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Telangana argues for restriction of diversion for KC Canal system by A.P.
HYDERABAD Telangana has argued before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II, that Andhra Pradesh had increased the utilisation of water for the Kurnool-Cuddapah (KC) Canal system, disregarding the June 1944 agreement between the erstwhile Hyderabad and Madras States and later obtained the same as allocation. Andhra (Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, including ceded districts that comprised Ballari too) was a part of the Madras State then. Resuming the final arguments before the Tribunal in New Delhi on Wednesday in the matter of Section 3 (ISRWD Act, 1956) reference made for redistribution of Krishna water between the residuary States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh from out of the allocation of 811 tmc ft (assured water) made to erstwhile (combined) AP, Senior Counsel appearing for Telangana C.S. Vaidyanathan said the KC Canal was developed with the consent of erstwhile Hyderabad State (now Telangana). The condition for Hyderabad's consent was that no objections should be raised in future if Hyderabad chose to divert water, the counsel explained and added that the 1944 agreement reached between Hyderabad and Madras States was for diversion of 10 tmc ft water for KC Canal and 17.1 tmc ft for Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) — 15.9 tmc ft for Telangana (Hyderabad) and 1.2 tmc ft for Karnataka (Raichur, then a part of Hyderabad). Further, the counsel for Telangana stated that the same was presented by the Central water and Power commission in the Inter-State Conference, 1951. However, disregarding the 1944 Agreement, A.P. went on to increase the utilisation of KC Canal to 39.9 tmc ft, he submitted to the Tribunal adding that the actual utilisation on an average was 54 tmc ft. Besides, A.P. did not furnish the details of contribution by streams/rivulets such as Nippulavagu, Galeru and Kundu, all tributaries of Penna river, to an extent of 5.2 tmc ft to the command area of KC Canal before the KWDT-I, the counsel for Telangana submitted to the Tribunal (KWDT-II), according to officials of the Telangana Irrigation department who were present at the hearing. The Telangana counsel also explained with the help of maps how three additional sources — Muchumarri-KC Canal lift irrigation scheme, Malyala LIS and Escape Channel through Nippulavagu at Banakacherla — were being used to release water to the KC Canal from Srisailam reservoir in addition from the Sunkesula Barrage, the main source of KC Canal system. These diversions contravene the KWDT-I Award. When the Tribunal enquired about how much quantum of water was being diverted from the Escape Channel, the Telangana counsel explained that A.P. government was objecting to the installation of telemetry equipment at the Banakacherla Cross Regulator complex where the Escape Channel regulator takes off. Unless telemetry was installed at all the regulators at Banakacherla complex, the accounting of releases to KC Canal, SRBC, TGP and others was not possible. The counsel for Telangana further submitted that the availability of water to KC Canal was 45.1 TMC (39.9+ 5.2) and crop water requirement for the area under KC Canal as per the scientific assessment was only 18.51 tmc ft. Thus, there would be a saving of 26.59 tmc ft (45.1-18.51) and it should be allocated to the in-basin projects in Telangana. The Tribunal was pleaded for placing an administrative mechanism to restrict the utilisation of KC Canal to the allocated quantity.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Revanth, Naidu to meet in Delhi tomorrow to sort out Krishna, Godavari Basin projects
HYDERABAD Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will discuss water-related issues in New Delhi on July 16 at a meeting to be facilitated by Union Minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Patil. The Telangana government has decided to mount pressure on the Centre for achieving the rightful share of Krishna and Godavari river waters. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has asked the Centre to give clearance to the Krishna Basin projects in the State, allocate water to them and provide funding for their construction. He told Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy to address a letter to Union Minister of Jal Shakti C.R. Patil in this regard. The Chief Minister alleged that the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government in the past had failed to achieve the rightful share of river water, particularly in the Krishna Basin, for 10 years. By agreeing to 299 tmc ft share against 512 tmc ft to Andhra Pradesh, the previous government had allowed the neighbour to divert Krishna water indiscriminately. Similarly, in the Godavari Basin too, the BRS government had abandoned the Pranahita-Chevella project with a barrage at Tummidihatti after the Congress government had spent ₹11,000 crore on it till 2014, and instead the KCR government had wasted ₹1 lakh crore on Kaleshwaram project. Meanwhile, Mr Uttam Reddy in his letter requested the Centre to take initiative on resolving the issues in Krishna and Godavari Basins and also clear pending clearances and allocate water to those projects. On Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi Lift Irrigation Schemes, he said they were yet to be given clearances and allocation of water, including 45 tmc ft State's additional share in Krishna waters in lieu of A.P.'s diversion of Godavari water to Krishna Delta. He reminded Mr. Patil that the Prime Minister's Office had proposed on December 10, 2010 the national project status to Dindi LIS taken up in 2007 to address the fluoride problem. The inter-State clearance for Sammakka Sarakka Project (Thupakulagudem Barrage) was also pending despite Telangana's readiness to pay compensation to submergence lands as Chhattisgarh was not giving a no-objection letter. Further, he brought to the Union Minister's notice that A.P. was diverting huge quantity (8-10 tmc ft a day) of Krishna water to the non-basin areas from Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, Rayalaseema LIS, Muchumarri, Malyala and Guru Raghavendra projects. He sought clearance for all projects taken up till 2014 under KWDT-I Award. Mr. Uttam Reddy also explained various other contentious issues in his letter.
The Hindu
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Telangana urges KWDT-II to rectify anomaly of assured irrigation compared to A.P. in Krishna Basin
Telangana has requested the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II, chaired by Justice Brijesh Kumar, to rectify the anomaly of only 15% of the cultivable area in the Krishna Basin in the State being provided irrigation with assured water as against 95% in Andhra Pradesh. Presenting Telangana's argument before the Tribunal on Friday, senior counsel appearing for the State C.S. Vaidyanathan said given the rainfall variability and uncertainty, crop production is unviable and at least only irrigated-dry (ID) crop is needed to sustain the livelihood of farmers and farm workers in the backward areas of Telangana. He suggested that greater economy in use of water for irrigation should be considered by A.P. keeping in view the national policy of more crop per drop as Telangana has adopted the method of irrigating about 12,800 acres per tmc ft of water for ongoing projects, while A.P. had earmarked a higher usage of water — one tmc ft for irrigating just 8,400 acres under its existing projects. The counsel for Telangana also brought to the Tribunal's notice that KWDT-I Award held that 'in equitable allocation, future uses requiring diversion of water outside the basin are relevant but more weight should be given to uses requiring diversion of water inside the basin'. The future projects considered by KWDT-I are projects taken up after September 1960 and it allocated water to only inside basin projects under the head. However, the erstwhile A.P. had reallocated water to Srisailam Right Bank Canal project instead of reallocating it to inside basin project such as Srisailam Left Bank Canal project. The counsel stressed the need to revise the allocations made to SRBC as per KWDT-I Award. He also explained before the Tribunal (KWDT-II) how SLBC was deprived water allocation by the erstwhile A.P. while SRBC was taken up from assured water and argued for allocation of dependable water to SLBC, an inside basin project. Further, he also brought to the Tribunal's notice how erstwhile A.P. had placed before KWDT-I the demand for water for Jurala in the second priority set of projects and SLBC under set of surplus water based projects, while the projects as K.C Canal and Krishna Delta System with additional areas serving the outside basin were put under first priority set for allocation of dependable water. Telangana's argument was also heard by Members of KWDT-II Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice S. Talapatra along with Chairman Justice Brijesh Kumar. The Tribunal posted the further hearing of Telangana's arguments for July 23 to 25.
