HYDERABAD: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are caught in a legal battle in National Green Tribunal over the Dindi Lift Irrigation Scheme (DLIS).
While Telangana says it is a drinking water supply scheme, AP filed a counter-affidavit asserting that it is an irrigation project taken up without seeking the environmental clearance (EC).
Telangana irrigation special chief secretary Rajat Kumar in an affidavit said: “As on the present stage of construction, filling of the reservoirs, transporting and storing infrastructure can only be utilised for drinking water and industrial purposes. A separate further plan under next phase as to development of irrigation- related infrastructure would specifically needs to be made.”
He said DLIS had been commenced only to alleviate misery of drought-prone areas of Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Rangareddy and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri districts. “It will benefit 23 villages in Nagarkurnool, 179 villages in Nalgonda, nine villages in Rangareddy and 13 villages in Bhuvanagiri. A total of 21.6 lakh people from 224 villages will get drinking water,” he explained.
He said water will be drawn from the proposed Veeranjaneya reservoir at Yedula (which is part of Palamuru Rangareddy LIS). “This water would be floodwater (drawn during flood season) and therefore it will not interrupt the flow of the water of the Krishna,” he contended.
