TS ‘RELIEVED’ AS NGT STAYS SEEMA LIFT IRRI-
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to not proceed with the contentious Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme works till further orders.
The tribunal has also appointed a high-level committee to study the environmental impact of the project and submit a report in the next two months.
A two-member bench of the NGT (Southern Zone) comprising Justice (retd) K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta has issued this order while dealing with a petition filed by a Telangana-based farmer, G. Srinivas.
The high-level committee will be headed by a representative of Karnataka Pollution Control Board and will have members drawn from the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFC), the Krishna River Management Board and the IITHyderabad.
The bench felt that prima facie it was established that the AP government did not obtain any prior environmental clearance from the MoEFC.
Though the AP government sought time to file a detailed reply to the petitioner’s affidavit, the bench restrained AP from proceeding with the work on the project and constituted the expert committee.
“We are not even served notices,” AP counsel D. Madhuri Reddy told Deccan Chronicle.
The petitioner’s counsel Sravan Kumar, however, pointed out that prior environmental clearance is required for irrigation projects as they fall under the Category A, clause 1(c)(ii) of the EIA Notification, 2006. The petitioner expressed apprehension that the AP government might complete the construction of the RLIS project without the environment clearance as it did in the case of various other lift irrigation schemes, including the Purushothapatnam project on the river Godavari.
The petitioner mostly dealt with the ongoing dispute between the AP and Telangana governments
on the RLIS, the Telangana government’s argument that it was in violation of the AP Reorganisation Act and the lack of prior approval of the Krishna River Management Board. He also apprehended that 80 lakh people of Telangana would be severely affected by the proposed project as it might draw out the entire water from the Srisailam reservoir and deny drinking water supply to people of Hyderabad. The NGT order came as a shock to the AP government which is of the view that majority issues raised by the petitioner do not fall in the jurisdiction of the tribunal. “The approval of CWC, clearances from the boards and the Telangana government’s objections over the drawl of water from a particular level have got nothing to do with the environment,” said a senior irrigation official. The official has also pointed out that the project is at the stage of administrative sanction for which the environment clearance is not required. When contacted, Adityanath Das, special chief secretary, irrigation, said AP would immediately file counter and seek appropriate remedy.