Hyderabad: Major irrigation minister T. Harish Rao has directed officials to immediately lodge a complaint with the Centre against the construction of a barrage by the Karnataka government near Girijapur village, at the confluence of the Krishna and Bhima rivers, in Raichur district without informing downstream states and without obtaining the permission from Central Water Commission.
In a statement, Mr Harish Rao said that when information reached him about the illegal construction taken up by Karnataka, he had ordered Mahbubnagar chief engineer Tirunagari Khagender to rush to the spot and find out the facts. Accordingly, officials had gone to the site and had submitted a report which confirmed the construction.
The construction of the 1,170-metre long and 6-metre tall barrage wi-th 194 gates to impound 2 TMC ft to provide uninterrupted water supply to the nearby Raichur Thermal Station and Yermarus Thermal Power Station on 24 X 7 basis is being taken up by the Karnataka Power Corporation.
The contract has been awarded to Raghu Infra Pvt Ltd Bengaluru, with a mandate to complete the construction within 24 months.
A sum of Rs 120cr has been earmarked for it. The construction of the barrage was apparently necessitated following a shutdown of five units of the RTPS in the summer of 2012 for five days, due to severe water shortage.
The fact-finding committee that gone into the details of the construction stated that it would obstruct the lean flows into the Jurala Project from Narayanapur in Karnataka as well as re-generated flows.
Mr Harish Rao said the Karnataka government had failed to inform the downstream state regarding the construction as per the irrigation protocol. It is also doubtful whether it had informed the CWC and the Central Electricity Authority.
Mr Harish Rao instructed irrigation principal secretary S.K. Joshi and chief engineer (int-er-state) Ch. Nagender Rao to lodge a formal complaint.
