TG braces for legal battle against AP, K’ntaka in SC

With no response from the Centre, the Telangana Government has decided to fight against the Banakacharla project and the increase of Almatti dam height legally .

The cabinet will decide this week and file a petition in the Supreme Court following the AP government’s decision to go ahead with Banackarcharla despite the Telangana government lodging a complaint with the Centre recently. The Karnataka government’s decision to increase Almatti height was also opposed. However, the two states did not relent and moved forward.

The irrigation officials said that the government will file interlocutory application in the court. The Karnataka cabinet has recently decided to allocate funds for land acquisition for the increase of the Almatti dam.

The details of the cabinet decisions would be included in the petition and challenge the Karnataka government’s move to enhance the height of the dam without specific water allocations from the Tribunal. One case was already pending in the court and Telangana has decided to file another one.

On Polavaram-Banakaracharla linkage, the state government has already filed a complaint with the Central Water Resources Department and the Krishna Board opposing the AP government inviting tenders for the preparation of the DPR for the Polavaram-Banakaracharla project, ignoring their objections.

The AP State Water Resources Department had issued a tender notification for preparing the project DPR. AP had also submitted a PFR (Pre-Feasibility Report) to the CWC on May 22 for approval for the project to transfer 200 TMC of Godavari water from Polavaram to Banakacharla. Telangana and other states in the basin, Godavari- Krishna Board, Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) and the CWC have expressed strong objections to these proposals. The Expert Assessment Committee of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment had rejected AP's application for issuing Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be conducted for applying for environmental clearance on June 30.

It was clarified that the application for TOR should be made only after the availability of flood waters in Godavari and inter-state permission.

As the AP government was moving against the Telangana interests, the state government decided to file a case in the Supreme Court against the Banakacharla.