Works on PRLIS come to a grinding halt

Uncertainty looms large over the further progress of works on the multi-stage lifts and five reservoirs taken up. Their completion is crucial for addressing water scarcity in the region and extending irrigation to the proposed ayacut of 12.3 lakh acres.

Hyderabad: Adding to the concern of the water-starved southern districts of Telanagna, works on the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme have come to a grinding halt.

Uncertainty looms large over the further progress of works on the multi-stage lifts and five reservoirs taken up. Their completion is crucial for addressing water scarcity in the region and extending irrigation to the proposed ayacut of 12.3 lakh acres.

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The works on the project which gathered pace in 2023, with the previous government according it top priority, have lost the momentum since December last. Nearly 80 per cent of works were completed on the project which was initiated in 2015.

Even as the Centre declined national project status to the Rs.35,000 crore project, the previous State government had ventured to implement the project with State funds as it holds out hope for changing the profile of six districts – Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Vikarabad, Rangareddy and Nalgonda.

Phase one of the scheme was intended to give drinking water to 1226 en route villages. The previous government sought to complete the drinking water component of scheme on war-footing and accordingly, the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao inaugurated the drinking water component of the scheme on September 16. The wet run was completed successfully thus commencing the operation of two of the nine pumps installed under Stage I for pumping water into Narlapur reservoir built with a gross storage capacity of 6.04 tmc.

Stage one of the project remained partially operational supporting the supply system under Mission Bhagiratha in the region. The weekly drawl from stage- I of the project were in the order of 0.3 tmc. The project is able to provide at least one TMC a month for meeting the drinking water needs in the targeted villages.

But the drawls from stage one of the project may not continue for long as less than six tmc of water is available above the MDDL of the Srisailam- a joint project of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

So far as the project clearances were concerned, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) had accepted propoals and recommended the project for grant of environmental clearance. According the project officials, the Ministry of Environment has sought a the credible action taken report from the State Pollution Control Board on the steps taken to address violations taken place in the process of implementing the works.

But they found the report hard to come by for more than five months now. The Ministry of Jal Shakti also made it clear that the DPR of the Project needed fresh appraisal along with other clearances if the project is considered for provision of funds under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).
But this cannot be taken up at this stage as the matter was sub judice. Project wise water allocation has to be completed by the KWDT-II by resolving the legal issues involved for any such consideration to be extended by the Centre.

No further progress in works after December,2023

Only stage one lift remained partly operational

Mission Bhagiratha supported with a drawl of 0.3 tmc a week

No end in sight for water woes in six districts