Palamuru project gets nod from Centre

HYDERABAD: State government’s prestigious Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), aimed at providing water to 12.3 lakh acres of agricultural land in state, got Central government’s approval.The Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) gave the first phase environmental clearance for the project. The ministry gave Terms of Reference (ToR) clearance for the project at its meeting held in Delhi. The minutes of the meeting for the ToR will be issued in a week. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the MoEF which met in Delhi on Friday, agreed to give ToR for the PRLIS, according to the project chief engineer V Linga Raju.

He said that the Environmental Impact Assessment would be assessed for all the three seasons and the same would be submitted to the ministry in the next six to nine months. The chief engineer, however, said that in the first phase of PRLIS, works relating to drinking water needs would be taken up from Narlapur to Uddandapur for which no environmental clearance is required. “We will take up works related to irrigation water supply works in PRLIS only after getting the environmental clearance,” he added.

Project to be taken up with Rs 35,200 crore

Initially, the state government wanted to draw water from Jurala, but it would cause a huge submergence. As many as 47 villages would submerge in that design. As a result, the government redesigned the entire PRLIS to reduce submergence. After the redesign, the water source has been changed from Jurala to Srisailam. The ayacut has been increased from the proposed 10 lakh acres to 12.30 lakh acres.

Accordingly, the PRLIS has been designed to irrigate 7 lakh acres in combined Mahbubnagar, 5 lakh acres in Rangareddy and 30,000 acres in Nalgonda district.

The six proposed reservoirs are: one at Narlapur with 8.51 tmcft capacity, another at Edula with 6.55 tmcft, Vattem with 16.74 tmcft, Karivena with 17.34 tmcft, Uddandapur with 15.91 tmcft and Lakshmidevi Palli with 2.8 tmcft. The total capacity will be of 67.85 tmcft. The total area to be submerged under the project is 49,000 acres, 3 villages, 20 tribal tandas and 2,791 habitations.

The state government has already accorded administrative approval with an estimate cost of Rs 35,200 crore in 2016 for the redesigned PRLIS. The project works are divided into 18 packages.

Banks to provide Rs 11,400 cr loan to Kaleshwaram
Hyderabad: Bankers have come forward to extend Rs 11,400 cr loan for Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. The project required Rs 34,440.96 crore. The state spent the entire money allocated in the state budget in the first quarter of this budget for irrigation sector.