KTR lists out factors that came in way of Pranahita-Chevella project

BRS working president and former Minister KTR has made it clear that the major challenges that came in the way of implementation of the Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella project were mainly two inter-State issues

Hyderabad: BRS working president and former Minister K T Rama Rao has made it clear that the major challenges that came in the way of the implementation of the Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella project were mainly two inter-State issues.

Sharing a series of posts, including videos, from multiple sources on X, he said the barrage was proposed by the AP State before bifurcation at Tummidihetti in Adilabad district with the full reservoir level (FRL) being + 152 metre with a capacity of 5.09 tmc.

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Since it involved submergence of 3,786 acres of land in Maharashtra, serious concerns were raised by it. The State had strongly objected to the construction of the barrage at the proposed site. The government of Maharashtra had requested to reduce the FRL to + meters so as to minimize the risk of submergence, he shared.

As part of the initiative to resolve the issues involved in the implementation of the project, the previous Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and AP had entered into an agreement for constituting an interstate board on May 5, 2012. Consequent to the formation of separate State of Telangana, the Ministers for Irrigation/ water resources development of both the states had a meeting in Mumbai on July 23, 2014.

All out efforts were made to convince Maharashtra to allow the construction of the barrage with the FRL at +152 metres, but to no avail. The government of Maharashtra had again insisted on lowering the FRL of the proposed project as a pre-requisite for according it concurrence. A joint survey conducted by the two States and assessed the submergence at 285 acres with the FRL reduced to +148 metres. But the project with the FRL lowered to +148 would facilitate a tentative diversion of only 44 tmc instead of 160 tmc envisaged at +152 metres.

But the quantum of water would be made available with the FRL lowered would be insufficient for diversion of two tmc per day to meet the planned utilization. The Central Water Commission has stated that the net availability of water at the proposed site would be about 165.38 tmc at 75 per cent dependability which includes the perceived surplus of 63 tmc from the share of upstream States.

It also advised the Project authorities to review the quantum of divertible flows from Pranahita barrage considering the overall availability at the Tammidihetti location and the environmental flows required besides the storage capacity at the proposed barrage. The CWC had made it clear that the availability of the estimated surplus of 63 tmc of water from upstream states, may not be reliable available in future.