Telangana HC stays land acquisition for drawal of additional water

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday stayed the land acquisition notification issued on September 27, 2021 by the authorities concerned to draw 1.1 tmc of additional water under the Kaleshwaram Project II Package IV at Achampally in Gangadhara mandal of Karimnagar district for undertaking line modification, cross drainage (CD) and cross masonry (CM) works. 

While dealing with a petition filed by Chindam Srihari and four others from  Karimnagar, challenging the acquisition of lands by the government by notifying it under Section 11(1) of the Act, 2013, without initiating the mandatory Social Impact Assessment in accordance with the Act, the bench of Justice T Vinod Kumar also directed the authorities to file their counters by December 17. 

The petitioners contend that in 2015-16, the State government modified the earlier Pranahita Chevella Lift Irrigation Project and came up with a re-engineered and redesigned irrigation project — the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. The project was redesigned to lift two tmc of water per day for a period of 90 days in a year, a total of 18 tmc from the Godavari river at Medigadda in Bhupalapally district. The State claimed that the re-designed project was aimed at improving agriculture productivity in the upland areas of Telangana.