Project not legal, also lacks clarity
There is widespread surprise at the way the state government is planning the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme that is raising doubts about the completion of the long-pending Polavaram irrigation project.
Interestingly, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and TS governments have argued in favour of changing the design of the Polavaram project and it would now be a reality with the proposed lift irrigation project by the TD government.
There is no clarity on the project and the state government has issued two GOs till now. One was in Jan. 1 and the other was on March 27. There have been many cases pending in the Supreme Court and this would also create more legal problems, as the government seems to be violating many constitutional provisions in water allocation and utilisation.
In a hurry to construct the capital city and to meet the future demand of water in the region, the government is not considering basic water levels that govern conditions of agriculture under ayacut of Godavari Delta that has around 10.30 lakh acres. The problem comes with water level at Dowlaiswaram barrage that diverts water to the Eastern Delta Canal, Central Delta Canal and Western Delta Canal where 14 mt of water storage is a must for reaching even tailend lands. Now, the proposed LI scheme is to be set up at 40 kms above the upper water stream of Godavari River where water is proposed to be pumped at 12.5 mt. The GO-1 of Jan. 2015 mentioned this. But, after witnessing huge protests from farmers and other sections of people, the state issued the GO-200 on
There is no clarity on the project and the state has issued two GOs till now. This would also create more legal problems, as the seems to be violating many constitutional provisions in water allocation.
March 27 providing operational guidelines and revised the level to 14 mt for setting up 30 pumps for lifting the water.
Experts in irrigation say if the water level falls to one meter for every 20 kms it should be a minimum of 16 mt at Pattiseema. If water is lifted at 14 mt, it would naturally be 12 mt at Dowlaiswaram, which would severely affect water flow to the important Godavari Delta Canal system. Further, the proposal is violating the constitutional provisions like Bachawat Awards, Reorgani-sation Act, Independent Apex Councils of both rivers, and Polavaram Project Authority in case of the proposed LI scheme is part and parcel of Polavaram project where permissions are needed.