Uttam Kumar Reddy | PHOTO CREDIT: NAGARA GOPAL
The Minister of irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy wrote to the Minister of the Union Bhupender Yadav, who urged the Ministry of the Environment, Forests and Climate Changes (MOEF & CC) to reject the proposal for reference conditions (TOR) seeking Andhra Pradesh for the Modified Irrigation Project (PIP).
He claimed that the actions of the AP government are consistent violations of environmental permits and the allocation of the tribunal, which is called harmful to the interests of the coast and legally unsustainable.
In his letter on Monday, Mr. Uttam said that Andhra Pradesh made massive deviations in the Krishna and Godavari basin by expanding the scope of several PIP components, violating the permits assigned to the Godavari water disputes) and technical counseling prices). He recalled that the Polavram project originally received environmental permits from MOEF according to letter J-1211/74/2005-IA-1 of 25 October 2005. However, the Government Andr Pradesh later made extensive changes without obtaining new permits.
Although the order was issued due to unapproved changes in the scope of the project, it was kept in carrying and was repeatedly extended, last until 2 July 2026. This allowed the work to continue despite the objections not only by Telangan, but also Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The Minister also pointed out that the Polavaram project, after the Indian government was awarded the “national project” of the government status, continues to receive reimbursement, but only for components that have been approved to the original extent. “However, the AP government continued with great infrastructure modifications,” he wrote.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy referred to the Supreme Court’s order of 6 September 2022, which clearly noted that “some technical reports are available, but depending on the expansion of the project, more needed.
In his communication, the Minister warned that AP exceeded the approved project parameters. “Connection to pump water from the head of the release of the Polavaram right main channel (PIPRMC) is now designed for 40,000 CUSECS, while the original design was for 20,000 cusecs. Twin tunnels, each with 20,000 CUSECS, and infrastructure is at the level,” Drain, ”he points out that he is in line with the discharge.
He added that PIPRMC is carried out with a 17 560 CUSECS stretch capacity against the DPR approved 11,654 CUSECS. Similarly, Polavaram The left main channel (PIPLMC) is designed with the same capacity of 17 560 CUSECS, although only 8 123 CUSEC was originally approved.
He stressed that these changes in towing capacities and “extensive changes in the dimensional features of the project components” represent a complete revision of the project, made without the necessary permits or approval.
The Minister emphatically called on MoEF & CC not to perform any evaluation of the project of the Andr Pradesh project at the upcoming session of the expert evaluation (EAC). “With regard to all of the above, especially in the interests of justice, it is required that no assessment of this project proposal and directly reject the Tor at the upcoming EAC meeting,” he concluded.
Published – 16 June 2025 21:43
