Telangana urges MoJS to expedite appraisal of 1 TMC component of Kaleshwaram

In a letter to Pankaj Kumar, he said the GRMB had stopped the process of according statutory clearances for additional one TMC works of Kaleshwaram project

Hyderabad: Irrigation and Command Area Development Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar requested the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) Secretary Pankaj Kumar to issue instructions to Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) to complete appraisal process of additional one TMC component of Kaleshwaram project expeditiously, as any delay in granting clearances will cause irreparable damage to the interests of Telangana.

In a letter to Pankaj Kumar, he said the GRMB had stopped the process of according statutory clearances for additional one TMC works of Kaleshwaram project citing the Supreme Court order in a special leave petition (SPL) to maintain status quo.

---

The SLP was filed on the contention that additional one TMC works are being carried out without obtaining statutory clearances. The Telangana government had already represented that additional one TMC component was not a new project and that it was part and parcel of the Kaleshwaram project for which all statutory clearances were obtained.

In this connection, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had personally met the union Minister of Jal Shakti on September 7 last year and requested to delete this project from the list of unapproved projects in gazette notification dated July 15, 2021. Subsequently, the matter was discussed with the Ministry comprehensively. All the requisite information sought by the Central Water Commission (CWC) in this regard was submitted by the State government. Finally, the matter has been referred to GRMB, with the recommendations of CWC, for their comments.

At this stage, stopping the process by GRMB would not only cause unnecessary delay to the project, but would also serve to strengthen the case of petitioners, Rajat Kumar said.

He said the Supreme Court order dated July 27, 2022 pertained to only maintaining status quo on the works component, and not to the process of granting clearances. “Under these circumstances, we request you to issue necessary instructions to GRMB to complete the appraisal process expeditiously,” he said.