Farmers Seek Fresh DPR for Kupti Project on River Kadam

Adilabad: Demand for the construction of the Kupti project on the river Kadam, with a fresh detailed project report (DPR) and escalated project cost by cancelling the earlier government order, has intensified after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy recently inaugurated the Chanaka-Korata and Sadarmat barrages in Adilabad and Nirmal districts, respectively.

The state government believes that the Kupti project will ensure round-the-year water flow to the Kuntala waterfalls, helping develop it into a major tourism destination.

The previous BRS government had issued a Government Order (GO) granting administrative sanction for the Kupti project, but no funds were sanctioned for its execution.

Adilabad District Congress Committee president Naresh Jadhav and Boath MLA Anil Jadhav of the BRS submitted a representation on the Kupti project to the Chief Minister. Addressing a public meeting in Nirmal recently, irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said priority would be given to the proposed Kupti project.

The proposed Kupti Multipurpose Project aims to store 5.20 TMC ft of water to supplement the Kadam Reservoir near Kupti, at an estimated cost of ₹870 crore, as per GOs 34 and 18 issued in 2018. Under the plan, existing water flow would be stored by constructing a check dam at Tejapur, while surplus water would be diverted to the Pochera waterfall, thereby increasing flow in the Kadamvagu.

Local representatives have demanded that the storage capacity of the Kupti project be increased to 6.5 TMC ft, with 3.5 TMC ft allocated to the Boath Assembly constituency.

However, villagers of Kupti village in Neredigonda mandal of Adilabad district prevented irrigation officials from identifying land for acquisition for the project in August 2024. The protest took place when irrigation department executive engineer Bheem Rao of the Boath Division visited the village.

The villagers demanded that the government first hold discussions on the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package with project-affected families before proceeding with land identification.

Although the state government allocated funds for the project in the budget, villagers alleged that the amount was not released and that no water allocation was earmarked for their agricultural lands. The villagers demanded modification of the earlier GOs and sought priority allocation of water to Boath, Neredigonda, Ichoda, and Sirikonda mandals.

According to the GOs, the Kadam project has a storage capacity of 7.20 TMC ft, but due to siltation, the current capacity has reduced to 4.7 TMC ft gross and 4.1 TMC ft live storage. Owing to the development of multiple tanks in the catchment area, the reservoir generally receives inflows only during July and September.

Due to inadequate storage, the average ayacut irrigated under the Kadam project is limited to 41,868 acres against the designed ayacut of 68,150 acres, leaving a shortfall of 26,282 acres.

Devender, a farmer from Kupti village, said the project would not provide irrigation water to Kupti lands, resulting in loss of valuable agricultural area. He alleged that the project was instead aimed at stabilising ayacut in Mancherial district.

A senior Congress leader from the Boath Assembly constituency said the present design of the Kupti project would neither meet irrigation nor drinking water needs of the constituency and would primarily benefit Mancherial district.

Local leaders and farmers have demanded that the state government prepare a fresh DPR with revised cost estimates to ensure justice to local farmers.