KURNOOL: The southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday directed Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to carry on inspections at the contentious Rayalaseema Lift Scheme (RLS) to assess the progress as objected by the Telangana state government.
This comes on a plea that the Andhra Pradesh government was not cooperating.
Meanwhile, AP government vehemently opposed the inspections before the NGT bench contending that this could create a political storm. The next hearing was posted on August 9 in a petition filed by Gavinolla Srinivas of Nagarkurnool district. The Tribunal said contempt proceedings would be initiated if the inspection report reveals anything contrary to its orders.
Andhra Pradesh filed a reply affidavit in which it said that it has not violated any order passed by the Tribunal and found fault with the allegations made by the applicant as they were not true. It further said that as a modified proposal the pump house is situated on the north side of the existing Pothireddypadu Head Regulator with an approach channel of 8.892 kilometres located in the foreshore of Srisailam Reservoir connecting to a forebay of 237 meters.
The modified scheme does not involve the creation of any new irrigation as there is no increase in the capacity of the existing canal either by providing additional canals or diversion canals or enhancing the dimension of the existing canals. It further said there are no eco-sensitive zones within a 10-km radius as Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve is at a distance of 11.544 km. It said that the modified DPR was submitted to the Central Water Commission on June 30 and the same was submitted to KRMB on July 1.
Telangana state proposed conducting RLS inspections by using a helicopter and offered to bear the costs of inspections. It said as AP government was not cooperating, they were coming forward to help KRMB, said the additional advocate general.
