Andhra Pradesh delaying Polavaram survey

Joint survey on impact of project’s backwaters in TS has to be conducted before monsoon

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh, which is creating obstacles for the Palamuru–Ranga Reddy lift-irrigation scheme by filing court cases and seeking the Centre’s intervention to stop it, is now creating hurdles in taking up a joint survey of submergence areas in Telangana at Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of the Polavaram dam.

Despite the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) directing Andhra Pradesh to coordinate with Telangana to complete the survey, the former has been delaying it intentionally on flimsy grounds.

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The joint survey was agreed to as per the directions of the Supreme Court, and both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana gave their consent for it on issues pertaining to Telangana. Yet, the Andhra Pradesh government was not cooperating and using all kinds of tactics to delay it. The Telangana government is agitated over the delay as the survey has to be conducted before the onset of the monsoon.

Telangana is insisting on a fresh study on the effect of the Polavaram backwaters as the floods last July affected 28,000 inhabitants, 11,000 families and 103 villages in the Khammam district.

Telangana Irrigation Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar, too, has been demanding that the Centre constitute a technical team, comprising chief engineers from all riparian States, besides experts from the CWC and National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), to study the effects of the Polavaram project backwaters on riparian States. However, the AP government was not cooperating with Telangana and dilly-dallying the process.

The CWC-mandated meeting between AP and Telangana to discuss the joint survey was originally scheduled for April 10, but was postponed to April 12. Subsequently, AP officials agreed to provide the data on Polavaram by April 14, but submitted it to the PPA on April 15, which was forwarded to Telangana on April 19. However, Telangana irrigation engineers, who examined the details, found it to be incomplete and wrote to AP to send the details in full.

“The data given by AP has confirmed our claim that there is the submergence of over 900 acres in Telangana and also many streams are joining the Godavari at lower than Polavaram’s FRL, which causes drainage congestion in Telangana,” said Sridhar Rao Deshpande, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister for irrigation projects. “We will demand a discussion on the data sent by AP and work out a roadmap for the joint survey before the onset of the monsoon,” he added.

According to Irrigation officials, a joint team of irrigation engineers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have to survey the impact of the backwaters of the Polavaram major irrigation project on the areas in Telangana during the Godavari floods every year. The team would also ascertain the extent of submergence areas in Telangana if the water in Polavaram was maintained at full and minimum reservoir levels from July to September.

The joint survey would also study the impact of the backwaters of Polavaram on the streams and tributaries such as Kinnerasani and Sabari, which might swell due to the impact, resulting in the submergence of more areas than originally estimated when the project was conceived.