Telangana Congress leaders called on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Bengaluru on Tuesday evening over Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme in Mahabubnagar district and release of 3 TMC water from Narayanpur to Jurala for drinking water purpose.
The Congress delegation comprised of TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Leaders of Opposition K. Jana Reddy and Mohammed Ali Shabbir, MLAs D. K. Aruna, G. Chinna Reddy, A. Sampath Kumar and C. Vamshichand Reddy, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and other leaders and farmers.
“Work of irrigation department of package number 1 & 2 regarding raising the anicut height by 6 inches and modernization of canal may kindly be taken up immediately. Approximately 83,897 acres of ayacut in drought prone Alampur area of Mahabubnagar district of Telangana will be benefitted if package works numbers 1 & 2 are taken up and completed quickly. 15.9 TMC of water is to be given through RDS scheme,” said Uttam Kumar Reddy in the memorandum submitted to the Karnataka CM. Further, he requested Siddaramaiah to release 3 TMC of water from Narayanpur to Jurala on river Krishna for drinking water purpose. “Mahabubnagar district is facing severe drinking water problem and release of 3 TMC would mitigate the problem to some extent,” he said.
The Karnataka CM has assured to consider both the issues and said that a decision would be taken soon after holding a meeting with top officials of Irrigation Department.
The Congress leaders also presented a brief note on the multi-State RDS, built across Tungabhadra River at Rajolibanda. The scheme was sanctioned during erstwhile Nizam State and the construction of its anicut began in 1946 and completed by 1958. Water was supplied to 143 km long RDS Canal to benefit drought areas of 15 villages in Manvi Taluq of Karnataka, 75 villages in Alampur in Mahabubnagar and four villages in Kurnool. As per the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal award 1973, 17.10 TMC was allotted to RDS which included 7 TMC assistance from the Tungabhadra Dam.
As the project was more than 50 years old, the realisation of Designed discharge at Telangana Border was gradually reduced to an average of 5 TMC against allocation of 15.90 TMC.
Uttam Kumar Reddy informed that the previous Congress Government had constituted an expert committee on 08.07.2004 which suggested several measures to improve the realisation of water in RDS canal. He said that the then Congress Government sanctioned Rs. 72 crore for modernisation of RDS project consisting of 8 packages out of which package I to IV falls in Karnataka Area. He said that the estimated cost of Packages I to IV were revised and the then government accorded revised administrative approval of Rs. 92.74 crore on 25.08.2007. “Amount deposited to Karnataka for the execution of modernization of 4 packages works is Rs. 58.933 crore during 11/2007, 03/2008 and 09/2009,” he said.
Furnishing details of all four packages, Uttam Kumar Reddy said due to the non-completion of these packages, the realisation of water at Telangana border was very less and not getting required discharge. “Unless balance portion of structures and lining are completed, the design discharge realisation at Telangana border is not possible,” he said. From 1975-76 to 1986-87, an average of 11.99 TMC water was realised to irrigate an area of 50,624 acres and from 1987-88 to 2004-2005, water was realised to the tune of 6.65 TMC to irrigate 37,990 acres. “The situation is further aggravated in the last 5 years due the realisation of water falling to an average of 4.309 TMC irrigating an areas of 25,000 acres,” he said. (NSS)