CWC meeting on Polavaram backwaters on January 25

Engineers-in-Chief of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh are slated to attend the meeting.

Hyderabad: The Central Water Commission (CWC) is holding a technical committee meeting on the impact of the backwaters of Godavari River due to the construction of the Polavaram Irrigation Project in Andhra Pradesh on January 25.

The meeting was orginally scheduled to take place on January 13, but was postponed. Engineers-in-Chief of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh are slated to attend the meeting.

Last year, floods in Godavari river affected 99 villages in six mandals of Bhadrachalam due to backwaters of the Polavaram Irrigation Project. Following this, the Telangana government had urged the Centre to commission an independent study to observe the effects on the backwaters of Godavari river due to the Polavaram project.

The Telangana government pointed out that the CWC had designed the Polavaram project spillway for discharging 50 lakh cusecs against 36 lakh cusecs as envisaged in Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award, whereas, Andhra Pradesh was maintaining that the designs of Polavaram were approved by all statutory agencies, including the Dam Design Review Committee, CWC and PPA, before it got approval for construction of the project.

Meanwhile, the hearing of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) scheduled to be held on January 24 and 25 has been postponed.