The Telangana Government on Saturday sought to dispel apprehensions about the agreement with Maharashtra on project across Pranahita stating that it accepted the height of 148 mts against the conceived 152 mts at Tummidi Hetti under “compelling” circumstances.
Telangana had no choice but to agree to 148 mts because Maharashtra had been stiffly opposing since the conception of the project in 2007 as the height of 152 mts would submerge 5,145 acres of land in 30 villages of Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts of that State, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao told select media persons here on Saturday.
Avoiding any criticism of political parties that raised a dust that the agreement mortgaged interests of Telangana, Mr. Harish Rao said the compulsions to agree to 148 mts originated from non-availability of 160 tmc ft of water that the government envisaged while taking up Pranahita-Chevella project to irrigate 16.40 lakh acres of ayacut in seven districts of Telangana. This project was redesigned and split into two parts, one of them confined to Adilabad district, and the other shifted downwards to a length of 110 kms at Medigadda.
In shifting the bigger portion of the project to Medigadda, Mr. Rao said the net available yield of water will go up from 102 tmc ft to 275 tmc ft which would not only meet the requirement of 16.40 lakh acres but stabilise an ayacut of 18 lakh acres created under already constructed projects like SRSP Stages I and II and flood flow canal. The net availability had come down to 102 tmc ft at Tummidi Hetti because 63 tmc ft of surplus water was already contemplated for projects in upper riparian States. Even in the 102 tmc ft, he said 30 tmc ft was meant for drinking water to Hyderabad, 16 tmc ft for industries and 10 tmc ft for en route villages. How is it possible to irrigate 16.40 lakh acres with the balance 46 tmc ft?, he questioned. Mr. Rao also justified the agreement asking if it is right to squabble with Maharashtra on barrage height for some more years after its Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had categorically rejected the height of 152 mts.
The Maharashtra government had addressed letters to higher ups in combined Andhra Pradesh 16 times expressing apprehensions about submergence of land due to Pranahita – Chevella project.
But, AP never responded. A meeting between former Chief Ministers N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Prithviraj Chavan in May 2012 and two subsequent meetings of officials of two States failed to cut ice.
