NGT bars AP govt from construction activities at Pothireddypadu, RLIS

The order comes as a shot in the arm for the Telangana State government which has been arguing that AP has not taken any prior approvals for expansion of Pothireddypadu head regulator and RLIS

Hyderabad: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), South Zone bench in Chennai, has directed the Andhra Pradesh government not to proceed further with the construction of Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme to lift 3 tmc of water from Srisailam every day without securing all required approvals. The order comes as a shot in the arm for the Telangana State government which has been arguing that AP has not taken any prior approvals for expansion of Pothireddypadu head regulator and RLIS.

The bench, comprising Justice K Ramakrishnan (Member) and expert Saibal Dasgupta, gave its final verdict on Thursday, in the matter of G Srinivas of Bapanapally village of Narayanpet District and the State of Andhra Pradesh and others. The verdict went in favour of Telangana.

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In their 131 page final verdict, the bench said the Ministry of Jal Shakti had already directed the AP government not to proceed with the project without submitting the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and getting their appraisal done.

“There is no necessity for the Tribunal to get into the question of whether prior approval from KRMB is required or not as the matter has to be considered by the Board after evaluating the DPR as directed by the Ministry as that is covered by the provisions of AP Reorganization Act 2014,” the bench observed.

“Since the Tribunal has prima facie found that there is a component of irrigation envisaged in the project and which requires prior Environmental Clearance (EC) and without getting the EC, the AP government is not entitled to proceed with the project. The AP government is restrained from proceeding with the work without getting EC,” the bench said in its order.

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