Purushotapatnam project should be declared illegal, urges Telangana government

HYDERABAD:  Pointing out that the Andhra Pradesh government has not approached the Central government for taking up the Purushothapatnam lift irrigation scheme in East Godavari district, the Telangana government on Tuesday urged the National Green Tribunal at New Delhi to declare the project as illegal as it was taken up without obtaining any approval from the ministry of environment and forest.

Pursuant to earlier direction of the NGT, the Telangana government filed a counter affidavit in the petition by Madicharla Satyanarayana and M Ramachandram from East Godavari district complaining that the Purushothapatnam project was taken up without conducting any statutory environmental impact assessment and social impact assessment as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The Telangana government stated that the Purushothapatnam project across the river Godavari has its basin areas spread into other states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It urged the NGT to direct the project proponent to operate the scheme after obtaining environment clearance from the concerned ministry by conducting socio-environment impact assessments under EIA notification 2006.

Meanwhile, the Centre, represented by the director of ministry of environment, forest and climate change, also filed an affidavit stating that no proposal was received by the ministry from the AP government in respect of Purushothapatnam scheme. The tribunal would hear the matter on August 16.