Clueless Congress: CWC did say water availability at Tummadihatti inadequate paving way for Medigadda

HYDERABAD: The Congress Government eager to create confusion among the people about the intentions of the earlier BRS Government to choose Medigadda instead of Tummadihatti, hit a self-goal.

Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar had said that there was ‘adequate’ water available at Tummadihatti and the Central Water Commission (CWC) never reported inadequate water availability at Tummadihatti. The Government’s argument was that the BRS Government selected Medigadda with an ulterior motive.

But the Congress Government in its presentation on Kaleshwaram on December 29, 2023, mentioned that the Maharashtra Government strictly wanted a lowering of the FRL & minimisation of submergence. This means a tentative diversion of only 44 TMC is possible at FRL +148.00m instead of the envisaged 160 TMC at FRL +152.00m.

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The Congress Government in their presentation mentioned what the CWC said: "The availability of surpluses of 63 TMC from upstream states, as estimated at the barrage site, may not be reliably available in the future." The ppt finally said, "This quantum of water would be insufficient for the diversion of 2 TMC per day to meet the planned utilisation of the projects."

CWC letter

On March 4, 2015, the CWC addressing the chief engineer of Dr. BR Ambedkar Pranahitha-Chevella Srujala Sravanthi said “As evident from detailed water availability studies carried out by the project authorities and this office in the last few years, the net water availability at the barrage locations is about 165 TMC at 75 percent dependability which includes perceived surpluses from the share of u/s States (i.e assuming the utilisation of u/s states limited to 75 availability) of 63 TMC. It is seen from the master plans of u/s states that the planned utilisation is more than 75 percent availability.

CWC in its letter was very clear that the surpluses as envisaged by the then Government might not be available in the future. “As such the availability of surpluses from u/s states as estimated at barrage site may not be reliably available in the future. The project is advised to review the quantum of divertible from the Pranahitha barrage site considering the overall availability at the location, requirement of environmental flows, capacity of pumping, storage of barrage, en-route and command area storages, etc.

Letter from Maharashtra CM

The then Prithviraj Chavan the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra on October 15, 2013, addressed to Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, expressed serious concerns on the submergence of its territory and cautioned the State to proceed further only after mutual agreement on any related issue.

“At this Full Reservoir level (FRL) of 152 metres, about 2,099 hectares of land from 22 villages of district Chandrapur and eight villages of district Gadchiroli are likely to be submerged and this is a main cause of unrest amongst the farmers from this area.

The Proposed Pranahitha Chevella project

• Project at 152 FRL at Tummadihatti in Adilabad district.

• To move 160 TMC of Pranahitha water from Tummadihatti to Sripada Yellampalli and from there to Mid Manair, Tadkapalli, Pamulaparthi, Chevella.

• To irrigate 16.40 lakh acres in the then Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda, and Rangareddy.

• To also meet the drinking water and industrial requirements of Hyderabad city and route villages.

• GO issued on May 16, 2007, for Rs 17,875 crore.

• Within 19 months the Government revised estimates and sanctioned Rs 38,500 crore on December 17, 2008.

• Works on seven links and 28 packages started without permission from Maharashtra.

• Works started in all packages except the Tummadihatti barrage.

• Estimates were revised to Rs 40,300 crore.

• Rs 6,000 crore spent up to June 2014.

Availability at Tummadihatti

• CWC in its reply to AP Government’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) on March 4, 2015, clearly said that AP's proposal was wrong in saying that the availability of 273.14 TMC at Tummadihatti and clarified that it will be 165 TMC.

• CWC further said that even that 165 TMC had a 63 TMC component that belonged to other States.

• CWC urged the Government to rethink the project at Tummadihatti.

• CWC said that when water available was estimated at 165 TMC at 75 percent availability the real quantum to use would be much less.

• Telangana Government then estimated and found that the availability will be 120 TMC at 152 meter FRL.

• As Maharashtra was demanding FRL at 148 meters the quantum of available water at Tummadihatti will be only 44 TMC

• This would only be sufficient to meet the water requirement of Adilabad

• Telangana then zeroed in on Medigadda with an availability of 160 TMC

Why Redesigning

After the formation of the State, the Government undertook a detailed study and decided to redesign the project based on the requirements of the new State. Based on the CWC’s calculations of water available at Tummadihatti, on 70 percent reliability, CWC’s advice on storage capacity, and the Maharashtra Government’s objections the Telangana Government opted for Medigadda.