The Telangana government has requested the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) and Central Water Commission (CWC) one more time to take measures to address the Polavaram project backwater effect on the territory of Telangana.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of PPA, Engineer-in-Chief (General-Irrigation) of Telangana C. Muralidhar said there had been no action on the part of the PPA on repeated requests of Telangana to address the issues related to submergence effect of Polavaram project and to ensure free flow condition at the project till completion of the protection measures.
He mentioned that the Supreme Court, while dealing with petitions filed by Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh on the impact of backwater and submergence effect due to the Polavaram project on their territories, had ordered the PPA/CWC on September 6 last year to take initiatives to address the concerns raised by the affected States.
The Ministry of Jal Shakti and CWC had so far convened one Secretary-level meeting, three technical meetings and two coordination meetings, where it was consented to ascertain the extent of submergence in Telangana territory due to standing water at the full reservoir level of Polavaram. The Chairman of CWC also consented to verification of the levels in the area of the stretch from Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border to Dummugudem anicut.
It was also agreed to verify levels upstream covering local streams for the submergence and backwater impact such as stagnation and drainage congestion with a joint survey under the aegis of PPA. Telangana had also sought a fresh study capturing later river cross-sections, correct assessment of probable maximum flood and its corresponding backwater effects.
However, all the issues remain unaddressed in spite of the timelines fixed by the Supreme Court. Submergence of 28,000 acres at Bhadrachalam and surrounding villages due to the completion of the spillway and upstream coffer dam of Polavaram was witnessed during the July 2022 flood, but the ground-truthing survey was yet to be taken up.
The ENC also mentioned the water levels in Godavari upstream and downstream of the spillway and upstream and downstream coffer dams at 6 am on July 21 when discharge of water at the project was over 7.38 lakh cusecs with a request to undertake necessary protection measures to avoid submergence in Telangana as per the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal Award by ensuring free flow of water to Polavaram by keeping all 48 gates and river sluices open all through the water year till completion of the joint survey.
