Centre indifferent to Telangana’s projects

BJP-led govt turning down repeated requests from State government to grant national project status to KLIS or PRLIS

Hyderabad: When K Chandrashekhar Rao launched the decisive Statehood movement in 2001, he declared that the fight was for Telangana’s rightful share of ‘Neellu, Nidhulu, Niyamakalu’ (water, funds, jobs) that the region had been deprived of for decades.

Twenty-two years later, as Telangana State inches towards its eighth year of formation, Chandrashekhar Rao, now Chief Minister, has all but redeemed on his promises, given the people of the State abundant water and generated jobs. Financially too, Telangana has done well, but a lot is left to be desired on the Centre’s role in nurturing the young State, particularly on funding irrigation projects that were critical for the State’s growth.

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For the past seven-plus years, the TRS government has been demanding that either the mega Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme or the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme be accorded national project status, particularly since AP’s Polavaram project was given the coveted status. The BJP, which has been ruling at the Centre from the same time Telangana was formed, has been consistently turning down the requests. It had in fact even gone so far as to say that the concept of national project status had been shelved, this from the then union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari in Parliament in 2018.

But the Machiavellian side of the BJP government came to the fore when it accorded national project status subsequently to the Upper Bhadra project in Karnataka and Ken-Betwa River Link Project in Madhya Pradesh that will benefit both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and all these three States are under BJP rule.

So, what actually is needed for a project to qualify for national project status? An irrigation project must be a multi-purpose project (irrigation, industrial supply, drinking water, power generation etc) fulfilling other prescribed conditions including creating new ayacut of at least 7.5 lakh acres; should benefit drought-prone areas; obtain all permissions from Central Water Commission (CWC) and other statutory bodies; and also should not have any inter-State disputes with regard to submergence, water usage and compensation, among other issues.

KLIS far outstrips the requirements since the project can lift around 140-194 TMC and irrigate a new ayacut of 18.25 lakh acres apart from stabilising another 18 lakh acres. Drought-prone areas in erstwhile Medak and Nalgonda districts will benefit from the scheme. The project cost is more than Rs 80,000 crore and supplies 16 TMC towards industrial as well as another 40 TMC for drinking water purposes.

Similarly, PRLIS is being constructed with a capacity of 120 TMC, to irrigate a new ayacut of 12.3 lakh acres. The construction cost is estimated at around Rs 38,500 crore and would benefit drought-prone and fluorosis-affected areas of erstwhile Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts.

But take the case of the Polavaram project. It is essentially a water diversion scheme with a capacity of 194 TMC and construction cost of Rs 55,548 crore. Besides producing hydel power of 960 MW, it would also irrigate 6 lakh acres afresh. Further, it faces several disputes with neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Odisha as well.

The Ken-Betwa project was taken up at a cost of Rs 39,317 crore to link two rivers and create a new ayacut of 23 lakh acres in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It aims to provide drinking water to 60 lakh population and generate 103 MW of hydel power. Similarly, the Upper Bhadra project is a 40 TMC lift irrigation scheme taken up at an expenditure of Rs 21,473 crore to irrigate 8 lakh acres. Besides pending permissions from CWC and other agencies, the project is also facing stiff resistance from Andhra Pradesh due to inter-State water disputes.

Immediately after State formation, Chandrashekhar Rao sought national project status for KLIS and continues to pursue the issue with the Centre. He wrote at least four letters and submitted nearly a dozen representations personally or through Ministers, pleading with the Modi government to sanction national project status to Kaleshwaram project since it qualifies for the status. He took up the issue whenever he met Modi in the past seven years. With the Centre remaining aloof and the KLIS nearing completion, the State government subsequently requested the Centre to sanction the status to at least PRLIS. Silence, again!

Kaleshwaram Corporation gets A category grading by REC

Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project Corporation Limited (KIPCL) got “A Category” grading from Rural Electrification Corporation Limited. The A category grading was accorded considering the financial and other performances of KIPCL. To this effect, REC Limited General Manager V Lakshmanacharyulu sent a letter to KIPCL Managing Director B Hari Ram on Friday. Set up in 2016, KIPCL is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to develop, finance and operate Kaleshwaram Project in the State.

It is a public company fully owned by Telangana Government. In 2019, the State Government issued orders including the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) as an additional mandate of Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project Corporation Limited (KIPCL). Since then, the Corporation has been involved in developing, engineering, financing and executing the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana. The project is planned to irrigate about 37 lakh acres and provide 10 TMC drinking water to villages’ enroute, besides 30 TMC for Hyderabad and Secunderabad. This is in addition to providing 16 TMC of water for industrial usage.

To ensure execution project as per schedule and in an efficient manner, KIPCL signed agreements with commercial banker’s consortium for financing the project. With the financial support of banks and financial institutions, besides State Government equity the main trunk of project from Medigadda (Laxmi) Barrage to Kondapochamma Sagar has been complted in record time and water was conveyed from Medigadda barrage to Kondapochamma Sagar. At present, distributor works and field channel works are being taken up at brisk progress. The Corporation has been serving the interest and principal demands of the banks and financial institutions promptly (monthly or quarterly).

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