Nine MPs from the Telangana region have urged Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to immediately stop work on the Jyothiraopule Dammugudem-Nagarjuna Sagar Sujala Sravanthi project, which was not beneficial to the Telangana region.
In a letter to the Chief Minister on Saturday, the MPs stated that the project contemplates, as they understand, was to irrigate and stabilize 14.13 lakh acres under Nagarjuna Sagar Project at a cost of about Rs 20,000 crores. The proposal is to lift 156 TMC from the Godavari river at Dummugudem and take water to NSP Tail Pond by six lifts, which requires about 1136 MW of power for 80 days and acquisitions of more than 10,000 acres of land.
“It is not true that this is a Telangana benefiting project. The total ayacut irrigated in Telangana under Nagarjuna Sagar project was not more than seven lakh acres as against the total projected irrigation is 14.13 lakh acres under the project. Without approving the DPR, spending of Rs 400 crores is a wasteful of public funds. Moreover, this project appears to have been launched on the basis of PFR without going into the cost benefit ratios and availability of virgin ayacut.” They submitted that the projects with virgin lands in Telangana area were languishing for want of funds as such it was not prudent to spend a huge amount of Rs 400 crores on this project for which there was no approved DPR.
As proposed, it is to join Dummugudem and NS Link Canal at 3.20 km of 21st NSP Branch canal drawing 4000 cusecs into it. In the history of Nagarjuna Sagar Project operation, it was never felt scarcity of water at that location to cater to the requirements of its command. The alignment of the canals is passing through the forests of Khammam district and a lot of forest land is to be acquired. The proposed alignment is also passing through ‘Tiger Sanctuary’ and it is not known how this will be negotiated during its execution. It will be a heavenly task, statutorily and financially to satisfy the guidelines of the Environment Ministry of Union Government before they obtain necessary clearances from various Directorates and Ministries of Central government.
As proposed, the project is based on inter-basin transfer of water which cannot be allowed unless and until the native basin’s requirements are totally met. This is important to note that the proposed project is not in tune with AP State Water Policy as well as National Water Policy. The PFR proposal contemplates to divert 6.90 TMC to Mukya, a Branch Canal and 34.50 TMC to 21st Main Branch Canal of NSLBC.
They stated, “It is also contemplated to transfer 118.00 TMC to Tail Pond. Whether it is feasible to get the water getting lifted by 250 meters in to Tail Pond benefited to Telangana needs. Since, the Pulichintala project is being constructed as additional source and back up supply to Krishna Delta and Polavaram as standby and back up source for Godavari Delta, there is no need for this project and localizing 14.13 lakh acres of land for this project for irrigation is just impossible”.
“It is not out of context to mention here that when the Nagarjuna Sagar Project Ayacut requiring 281 TMC of water is backed by 408 TMC capacity gravity flow reservoir, it is not a wise decision to lift 25000 cusecs of water by spending more than Rs 20,000 crores and utilizing more than 10 years, for which there is no ayacut. If a captive power supply sources is to be created, it needs another Rs 6000 crores. There is no proper justification in contemplating the unwarranted, uneconomical, eco-destructive, unnecessary and ultimately the Project, proposal, Proposition which is non-implementable and fraught with insurmountable problems”.
In the circumstances, the project is going to be a redundant and needs to be shelved before spending another rupee on this project. Since the government has already paid Rs 400 crores as mobilization advance to the contractors for this work, the government may adjust the said amount for other works awarded to those contractors where they have already working.
The signatories to the letter are: Dr M. Jagannatham of Nagarkurnool, Gutta Sukender Reddy of Nalgonda, Ponnam Prabhakar of Karimnagar, Dr G. Vivekanand of Peddapalle, K. Rajagopal Reddy of Bhongir, S. Rajaiah of Warangal, P. Balaram Naik of Mahabubabad, Suresh K. Shetkar of Zahirabad and Rajya Sabha member Palvai Govardhan Reddy. (NSS)