‘Telangana spent Rs 346.83 crore to clean Godavari, Musi’

Hyderabad: The Central Water Commission (CWC) has examined the issues flagged by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh regarding inter-State aspects of Upper Bhadra Project (UBP) in Karnataka and a detailed response in this regard has been provided to the two States. This was stated by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu while responding […]

Hyderabad: The Central Water Commission (CWC) has examined the issues flagged by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh regarding inter-State aspects of Upper Bhadra Project (UBP) in Karnataka and a detailed response in this regard has been provided to the two States.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu while responding to questions raised by TRS MPs Kavitha Malothu, G Ranjith Reddy, Venkatesh Netha Borlakunta and Pasunoori Dayakar on UBP in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

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Tudu said a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of UBP was submitted to CWC by the Karnataka government for appraisal in December 2019. Based on successful completion of techno-economic examination of all relevant aspects including inter-State issues, hydrology, irrigation planning, designs etc., the techno-economic viability of the project was accepted by the Advisory Committee on Irrigation, Flood Control and Multipurpose Projects of Ministry of Jal Shakti, in its 147th meeting held in December 2020.

To a question on whether the opinion of lower riparian States of Telangana and AP were taken, Tudu said the water allocation for the project was well within the allocation of waters of River Krishna made by Krishna Waters Dispute Tribunal-I to Karnataka.

In such cases where there is either an agreement between the riparian States, or a Tribunal award, views or opinions of other riparian States are not required by CWC for assessment of inter-State aspects.
However, the issues flagged by Telangana and AP regarding inter-State aspects of the project have been examined by CWC, and detailed response in this regard has been provided to the two States, he said.
To another question whether UBP got environmental, forest and other clearances, he said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has accorded environmental clearance for UBP.

Telangana incurred Rs.346.83 crore for cleaning Godavari, Musi Rivers.
Responding to a separate question whether the Centre formulated any scheme to make the major rivers of the country free from pollution, Tudu said Telangana government has incurred an expenditure of Rs.346.83 crore as on June 22 for cleansing Godavari and Musi Rivers.

For conservation of rivers, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has been supplementing efforts of the States and union Territories (UTs) by providing financial and technical assistance for abatement of pollution in identified stretches of rivers in the country through central sector scheme of Namami Gange for rivers in Ganga basin and through the centrally sponsored scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for other rivers.

Setting up of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is one of the important components of these programmes.