Latest news with #RayalaseemaLiftIrrigationScheme
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Telangana asks Centre to direct AP to restore RLIS site to pre-DPR stage
HYDERABAD: Telangana irrigation officials on Sunday urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to direct the Andhra Pradesh government to immediately restore the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) site to its pre-Detailed Project Report (DPR) stage. In a letter to the ministry, the officials also requested that either the MoEF&CC or the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) monitor daily activities at the RLIS site and submit fortnightly compliance reports to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). They pointed out that the NGT had stayed construction work on RLIS and constituted a joint committee to assess the situation. However, the Andhra Pradesh government allegedly continued construction in violation of the NGT order. The Telangana officials recalled that the joint committee, in its March 2024 report to the NGT, noted that the project proponent had undertaken works beyond DPR preparation. Excavation was reportedly completed up to 14.14% for the approach channel and 87.03% for the pump house and related works, totalling 18.18% of the proposed excavation. 'Self-certification not applicable' Since the works exceeded the scope of DPR preparation, the officials argued that self-certification by the project proponent, as discussed in the EAC's 25th meeting, was not applicable. They urged that this clause be removed from the EAC recommendations and replaced with a site inspection report by a competent authority. Reiterating their demand, the Telangana officials called for immediate restoration of the RLIS site to its pre-DPR stage to safeguard the legitimate rights of Telangana in the Krishna basin.
The Hindu
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Congress govt. fixed Krishna water injustice, fast-tracked irrigation projects: Uttam Kumar Reddy
HYDERABAD Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday stated that the Congress government had taken several steps to correct the decades of injustice done to the State in the matter of Krishna water allocation. In a review meeting held at Miryalguda, he said that due to persistent efforts, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar had reopened the issue of sharing 811 tmcft water by the two Telugu States. He alleged that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had allowed Andhra Pradesh to take up Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme without even registering any protest. The Congress government had convinced the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to install telemetry instruments across all water drawal points of the Krishna basin projects to ensure real-time monitoring and transparency in water usage. He accused the previous government of grossly ignoring the irrigation needs of South Telangana by focusing solely on the Kaleshwaram project, which, he said, had ultimately failed due to design flaws and corruption. The amount of ₹94,000 crore spent on Kaleshwaram could well have helped complete major projects such as Devadula, SLBC, Dindi, Palamuru-Rangareddy, Sitarama, Uday Samudram and others, which remained pending for years. Despite spending ₹1.81 lakh crore on the irrigation sector during the BRS rule, no substantial ayacut was created. Projects such as Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Koilsagar and Bhima remained incomplete and Devadula and no irrigation potential was created under Sitarama despite huge spending. In contrast, the Congress government was focusing on delivering maximum irrigation benefits with minimum expenditure. He stated that the Congress government had allocated ₹23,000 crore for irrigation in the 2024–25 budget and had taken steps to strengthen the department by recruiting 1,100 engineers and 1,800 Laskars on the outsourcing method. He stated that de-siltation of old reservoirs such as Nagarjunasagar and Sriramsagar was taken up after decades of neglect and the sedimentation had reduced their water holding capacity by 25% to 30%.
