The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Union government and the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, after hearing a PIL petition seeking directions to them to initiate pro-active measures over floods resulting in northern Telangana districts due to backwaters of Kaleshwaram and Polavaram projects.
A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar instructed the Union Ministries of Home, Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Jal Shakthi, National Disaster Management Authority and Chief Secretaries of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to file counter affidavits in four weeks. Professor M. Kodanda Rama Reddy of the Telangana Jana Samithi filed the plea.
The petitioner contended that villages on the banks of Godavari river in the districts of Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Mancherial, Komuram Bheem, Bhadradri Kothagudem and Peddapally of northern Telangana region had been witnessing massive floods and inundation from 2019 to 2022. He maintained that this was the result of increased backwater levels due to completion of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project which has three barrages and 17 reservoirs, and the ongoing construction of Polavaram project in A.P.
