Kaleshwaram project

Why in news?

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) wants a relook at Kaleshwaram project.

What is the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project?

• The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation System is considered to be one of the world’s largest multi-purpose projects.
• It is designed to provide water for irrigation and drinking purposes to about 45 lakh acres in 20 of the 31 districts in Telangana.
• It will supply drinking water to several towns and villages and also to twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
• It will provide water for Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
• The cost of the project is Rs 80,000 crore, but is expected to rise to Rs 1 lakh crore by the time it is completely constructed.

What does the project entail?

• The project is unique as Telangana will harness water at the confluence of two rivers with Godavari by constructing a barrage at Medigadda.
• The water will be reverse pumped into the main Godavari River.
• From here, it will be diverted through lifts and pumps into a huge and complex system of reservoirs, water tunnels, pipelines and canals.
• The project has set many records with the world’s longest water tunnels, aqueducts, underground surge pools, and biggest pumps.
• The total length of the entire project is approximately 1,832 km.
• Of this, 1,531 km is gravity canals and 203 km comprise water tunnels.
• It involves digging of 20 reservoirs with total capacity to store 145 TMC.
• Except for a few stretches involving pipelines and canals, much of the project is complete.

How important is KLIS to Telangana?

• Kaleshwaram will transform Telangana into an agricultural powerhouse.
• It will enable Telangana farmers to reap multiple crops with a year-round supply of water.
• Mission Bhagiratha is a project to supply drinking water to every household in villages.
• This mission draws a large quantity of water from the KLIS and some quantity from projects on River Krishna.

What is the recent order of the NGT?

• The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, ruled that the Environmental Clearance given to the project in 2017 was void.
• It ruled so, saying that the Telangana government changed the design of the project to increase its capacity to pump from 2 TMC to 3 TMC water.
• The NGT observed that major changes were made in the project, due to which large tracts of forest land and other land was taken over.
• Massive infrastructure was built causing adverse environmental impact.

What was Telangana government’s argument?

• It argued that the expansion of the project to extract 3 TMC did not involve any infrastructural changes and so a fresh EC was not required.
• This argument was not accepted by the NGT.

What was the NGT response?

• The NGT said that extraction of more water requires more storage capacity, and affects hydrology and riverine ecology of Godavari River.
• Such issues may have to be examined by the statutory authorities concerned.
• The NGT said that it is difficult to accept the plea that enhancement of capacity by one third will not require any infrastructural changes.
• It ordered that, in any case, this aspect needs to be evaluated by the statutory expert Committees before the expansion is undertaken.

What should the MoEFCC do?

• The NGT directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to constitute an Expert Committee.
• This Committee would assess the extent of damage caused in going ahead with the project’s expansion and to identify restoration measures.
• The Expert Committee will complete its exercise within six months.

What should the Telangana Government do?

• The NGT directed the Telangana Government to stop all work except the drinking water component.
• It wants the government to obtain a Forest Clearance from the Centre before going ahead with the project.

What has been the Telangana government’s response?

• Irrigation Secretary said the state government will abide by the NGT directions and obtain the necessary clearances.
• According to Irrigation Department engineers, to enhance the capacity from 2 TMC to 3 TMC not very big changes are required.
• To store the additional 1 TMC, land for a reservoir has already been acquired while pipelines and canals are already in the works.

Source: The Indian Express