Telangana Government has sought more modifications in the gazette notification on the purview of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), this time asking for showing two components of Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme as one since it is one project, and remove component 1.15 from Schedule 1 and 2.
In a letter addressed to Chairman of the river board, M.P. Singh, Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation-General) of Telangana C. Muralidhar pointed out that in Schedule 1 and 2 included in the gazette notification published on July 15, it was shown Kalwakurthy LIS pump house and other supplementary works as item 1.14 and Kalwakurthy LIS-Additional 15 tmcft pump house and other auxiliary works as item 1.15.
However, the fact remained that Kalwakurthy LIS was not enhanced to utilise additional 15 tmc ft water against the original scope of the project but it was earmarked by Telangana government to commensurate with the ayacut envisaged by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Government.
The fact was already clarified to the river board several times, including through a letter dated June 3, 2020.
Requesting the board chairman to get the component 1.15 deleted in the two Schedules of the gazette notification, the ENC explained that Kalwakurthy LIS was taken up by the erstwhile AP government in December 1997 to irrigate 2.5 lakh acres in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district by lifting 25 tmc ft water from Srisailam reservoir.
Later the ayacut was increased to 3.65 lakh acres by issuing various GOs and Memos without increasing the water utilisation to commensurate with the ayacut.
As part of re-engineering projects taken up by the Telangana government, the water requirement was enhanced from 25 tmc ft to 40 tmc ft in proportion to the ayacut increased by the erstwhile AP Government. Further, Telangana was also seeking for allocation out of 75% dependable flows before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (Brijesh Kumar Tribunal).
Explaining the facts in detail, Mr. Muralidhar wrote that the erstwhile Hyderabad State had contemplated construction of Upper Krishna Project extension, Bhima Project and Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal extension with provision to irrigate vast areas in old Mahabubnagar district by gravity with 174.30 tmc ft water utilisation. However, the erstwhile AP did not pursue those projects with the Centre and KWDT-I and the fact was also noted by KWDT-I.
The erstwhile AP Government had sanctioned investigation for Kalwakurthy LIS following continuous agitations by farmers of the area in June 19784 and had given administrative nod for the project in May 2003.
Later, the erstwhile AP Government had also enhanced the ayacut first to 3.4 lakh acres and later to 3.65 lakh acres without mentioning water requirement with analogy to use 1 tmc ft water to irrigate 10,000 acres ayacut.
Accordingly, the Telangana Government had enhanced water utilisation from 25 tmc ft to 40 tmc ft to commensurate with the ayacut in September 2015 and in now way item 1.15 in the two Schedules was a separate project, the ENC said.
Similarly, the water drawal level for Kalwakurthy LIS was put at 800.52 ft level of Srisailam since it is in-basin project and for Telugu Ganga, Handri-Neeva, Galeru-Nagari and Veligonda projects it was put at 885 ft level as they are outside basin projects.
