Notice to TS on Dindi LI project

The project did not require environmental clearance: official

The Ministry of Environment and Forest has issued a show-cause notice to the State government recently seeking explanation on the execution of Dindi lift-irrigation project without environmental clearance from it.

The issue of notice came to light after the Ministry filed an affidavit with the National Green Tribunal when the latter sought clarification on a complaint lodged by Andhra Pradesh government that the project did not have environmental clearance.

The Superintending of Engineer of the project Venkateswara Rao told The Hindu that they will reply to the notice saying the project did not require environmental clearance because it was initially grounded as a drinking water scheme. The question of clearance will arise In future when it was integrated as an irrigation project.

The project was taken up with a capacity of 30 tmc ft to irrigate 3.40 lakh acres, he said.

The notice of the Ministry warned the government that it will initiate action against the project under Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006 without prior notice if a response was not received within 15 days. The notification envisaged that any irrigation project with an acreage in excess of 50 hectares will require environmental clearance from the Ministry. But, the State government did not make any application for clearance.

The Dindi lift-irrigation project was aimed to lift 30 tmc ft water from the reservoir of Palamuru-Rangareddy at Vattem to provide drinking water to flourosis-affected villages and irrigate 3.40 lakh acres. Water would be lifted from Vattem to another balancing reservoir at Ulpara from where it would be further taken to Dindi. But, both Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi lift-irrigation projects did not have permissions as per a Central gazette notification defining the scope of Krishna river management board. The permissions were required within six months of the notification coming into force. The board, however, said it had not received the detailed project reports for the twin projects so far.

A group of farmers of Andhra Pradesh challenged the Palamuru-Rangareddy project while the government of the State complained about Dindi lift-irrigation project in the NGT in separate petitions. The AP government also requested the Jala Shakti Ministry to take steps to stop the projects. The Ministry informed the tribunal that it had asked the Telangana government not to ground the projects without permissions.

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