An expert appraisal committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has pointed out the short work done by the Irrigation department and its consultant in the application filed for environmental clearance (EC) to the Modikuntavagu medium irrigation project in Jayashankar-Bhupalapally district and deferred its appraisal, seeking more information.
The project seeks to create irrigation potential of nearly 14,000 acres with construction of a 1,359-metre-high earthen dam across Modikuntavagu, a tributary of Godavari river, near Krishnapuram village of Wazedu mandal. The dam envisages storing 2.142 tmcft water for providing irrigation to 5,500 hectares (about 14,000 acres) along with supply of 0.12 tmcft drinking water to 35 Maoist-affected tribal villages in the area.
According to Irrigation department officials, the total land requirement for the project is 574.99 ha, including 499 ha of forest land and 75.99 ha of non-forest land. Of the land required, 13.15 ha is for the dam and 427.8 ha for submergence at full reservoir level at 124 metres and 58.05 ha for construction of canals. Officials stated that the proposal for environmental clearance had been submitted on December 16 last year and public hearing had been conducted at Wazedu on September 29, 2018 where “a majority of people supported early implementation of the project”.
“Based on the monthly inflow yield series for the years 1941 to 2015, 3.716 tmcft water is available in Modikuntavagu, out of which 2.142 tmcft would be utilised for the project. The remaining 1.574 tmcft water would flow downstream for ecological purpose,” an engineer involved in the project work said. The project proposed to be completed in three years would cost ₹425.16 crore.
Although the culturable command area of the project is less than 50,000 ha and it can be appraised at the State level itself, it has qualified for appraisal by the MoEF as Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary and the inter-state boundary with Chhattisgarh is located within 10 km of the project boundary. The project site is located at a distance of 7.5 km from Eturnagaram WLS boundary and the inter-state boundary with Chhattisgarh lies at a distance of 9.13 km.
While deferring the proposal for want of information, the MoEF committee sought details of submergence, rehabilitation and resettlement involved in the project, justification for the project, hydrological clearance from the Central Water Commission and revised cost estimates for implementation of the Environmental Management Plan. Besides, the department has been told to submit an affidavit — declaring that “no inter-state issue” is involved — and necessary documents from the forest and wildlife officials.
