Green panel refuses to stay Kaleswaram

State given 10 days to counter objections

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday refused to order a stay on the ongoing work on Kaleswaram, a major irrigation project of the Telangana state government.

The Tribunal gave the government 10 days to file a counter affidavit and set the next date of hearing to August 16.

Mr Hayathuddin, a native of Siddipet, has filed a petition before the NGT stating that the Telangana government is executing the gigantic project without following the mandatory procedures, and without even obtaining clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

He also contended that there was a major threat to the environment from the completed project.

Advocate-general D. Prakash Reddy, appearing on behalf of the TS government, sought one month’s time for filing the counter but the Tribunal granted only 10 days.

Under the Kaleswaram project, 180 tmc ft of Godavari water will be used to supply ayacut of 18 lakh acres in several districts of the state through various lifts.

The estimated cost of the project is `1 lakh-crore.

Clearance for stage-1 on 8,000 acres of forest land has already been received.

The contention of the state government is that nowhere in the country are irrigation projects executed only after obtaining necessary clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, as the process of obtaining clearances will take a minimum of two years. It has been a practice of the government to execute the work and get the clearances simultaneously.

However, the Act clearly says that without getting clearance no project work should commence.