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.
The lack of disaster management plan, unpreparedness of the State government and failure to take pro-active steps added to the woes of the people who lost their houses and harvest in the floods. Mr. Kodanda Rama Reddy presented a letter written in 2021 by Executive Engineer of Irrigation department of Mahadevpur of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district to the Collector. The EE wanted the Collector to install systems of ‘warning and danger’ levels at Laxmi Barrage at Medigadda while explaining areas vulnerable for floods.
The next year (2022), water levels rose to danger levels from July 11 to 16 due to heavy rains and several villages on the banks of the river got inundated. Considerable number of houses, villages and crop fields got submerged resulting in massive loss to farmers and general public. In a review meeting held in June, 2022, Jayashankar Bhupalpally district Collector held a review meeting, instructing officials to initiate steps in the event of floods, yet people suffered serious losses, the petitioner said.
The petitioner said the Telangana Irrigation Engineer-in-Chief wrote in 2023 to the Polavaram Project Authority Chief Executive Officer stating that backwaters of Polavaram project resulted in inundation of areas in Telangana during heavy rains in July 2022. Petitioner’s counsel informed the Bench that initially the PIL petition was filed in Supreme Court which declined to hear it but gave liberty to approach the High Court concerned.
The petitioner wanted the High Court to declare the Godavari river water floods between Kaleshwaram and Polavaram project areas as national disaster. He also requested the Bench to constitute an expert committee to assess the possibility of floods to be caused by the back waters of the two projects due to heavy rains.
