Hyderabad: The height of the Tummidihatti Barrage in Adilabad district, which is part of the Pranahita-Chevella major lift irrigation scheme in Telangana state, is back in the news.
Talks between Maharashtra and TS Irrigation and Revenue officials to resolve the height issue on Monday did not yield any result.
The officials only decided to meet regularly to exchange notes on the exact submergence of lands in Maharashtra due to the barrage’s construction.
TS irrigation advisor R. Vidyasagar Rao, who was formerly chief engineer at the Central Water Commission, told the media after the meeting that a political decision alone could resolve the dispute over the barrage’s height.
While the TS government has proposed the height of the barrage at 152 metres to supply waters for irrigation in Adilabad district and surrounding areas as part of the Pranahita-Chevella Lift Scheme, Maharashtra officials say that it should be restricted to 148 metres.
Maharashtra has been seeking to reduce the height ever since AP took up the project in 2007-08. Now, the TS government is insisting that it should be 152 metres so as to get more benefits.
The governments of the two states haven’t been able to reach an agreement despite efforts by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who went to Mumbai last year and held talks with his counterpart Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao.
It was only agreed that engineering officials from both states should meet regularly and arrive at a consensus on the contentious issue.
On Monday, Maharashtra engineering officials apparently told TS officials that anything above 148 metres was being opposed by local MLAs of the submergeable areas, including a Union minister representing the region.
The officials seemed to have suggested that it would be better if a delegation comprising officials and politicians from TS visited Nagpur in December, during the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature, and convince the MLAs.
Though the TS government has given all details of the ground survey undertaken by the engineers, the Maharashtra officials told them that unless they too took up a survey to know the actual extent of land submergence in their territory, it wouldn’t be possible for them to give their nod.
