Sudarshan Reddy clarifies on Rajolibanda scheme

Hyderabad: Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation P Sudarshan Reddy on Monday came out with a clarification on the Krishna Water disputes Tribunal reference to 4 tmcft of water under the Right Bank Canal of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RBC-RDS). In an official release, he said that KWDT-II, while making equitable allocation, in its report allocated only 9 tmc to Jurala Project and 25 tmc to Telugu Ganga Project.

“The tribunal while dealing with allocations under Tungabhadra sub basin observed that “no fresh requirements were made by the State of Andhra Pradesh for any project” and allocated 40 tmc feet to three projects of Karnataka. While objecting to the said projects, Andhra Pradesh also filed clarification stating that the Tribunal ignored the demands of the State and resulted in discrimination as project notes were filed before Tribunal for three projects in Tungabhadra sub basin showing requirements 10 tmcft to Penna Ahobilam Reservoir (PABR), 29.50 tmcft as additional requirement under K C Canal and 7.9 tmcft under RDS Right Canal.

All these requirements are shown in TAC Report. Out of the above projects, demands for RDS Right Canal and additional requirements for K C Canal were placed before KWDT-I itself, but were not considered,” he said. He clarified that the RDS Right Canal proposed to irrigate 40,000 acres with utilisation of 7.9 tmcft under Kharif.

He said that the Tribunal felt it just and proper to allocate 4 tmcft to RDS Right Canal Scheme to cater the needs of Kurnool district out of 65 per cent dependability in K-8 sub basin by curtailing the allocations made to three projects of Karnataka from 40 tmc to 36 tmc.