Hyderabad: The state government will file a petition in Supreme Court against Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar project which is being taken up by the Andhra Pradesh government.

State Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy will hold a crucial meeting with the legal experts including Congress MP and Supreme Court Advocate Abhishek Singhvi in New Delhi on Saturday. A group of Irrigation officials would also accompany the minister to brief the advocates about the status of the proposed AP’s project against the Telangana interests.

The state government has already filed a complaint with the Central Water Resources Department and the Krishna Board, opposing the AP government’s tenders for the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) for the Polavaram-Banakacherla project. Abiding the central government’s orders, the AP scrapped the project and came up with a new proposal of Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar Lift Irrigation (PNLP) project recently. The AP government has also invited consultants to prepare DPRs for the project despite the Telangana government raising objections.

Officials said: “Preparations are being made ahead of crucial hearings. A high-level preparatory meeting on the Polavaram-Banakacherla case is scheduled for Saturday at noon at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi. Later the same day, a delegation led by senior officials and ministers will meet Singhvi at 2:30 pm at his chamber to finalize legal strategy”. The irrigation officials said the AP’s move to construct the project with flood waters was against the rules framed by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Tribunal award.

The AP Irrigation department has already issued an e-procurement notice inviting tenders for the preparation of DPR. The last date for submitting bids is December 11, and the bids will be opened on December 17. The project aims to divert 200 tmcft of Godavari floodwaters at 2 tmcft per day (23,000 cusecs) to drought-prone areas of the state. The work will proceed after securing approvals from central agencies, including CWC, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). The latest tenders cover all required investigations and other works.

The PNLP comprises three segments: diversion of floodwater from Polavaram to Krishna River in segment-1, from Krishna River to Bollapalli reservoir in segment-2, and from Bollapalli reservoir to the Nallamala Sagar reservoir in segment-3. A total of eight lifts are proposed. An alternative alignment is suggested in Segment-1 from Bholerao Tank to Vykuntapuram via a tunnel and aqueduct, while Segment-3 includes a link canal to integrate with the existing system.