Irrigation
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Andhra Pradesh is situated in the central stretch of the eastern seaboard of the Indian Peninsula. Telangana is situated at a high altitude in an up-land area. The river Godavari is flowing on the North and the river Krishna is flowing on the South in Telangana region. Apart from the major rivers, there are other small rivers such as Bhima, Dindi, Kinnerasani, Manjeera, Manair, Penganga, Praanahita, and Peddavagu and Taliperu. In erstwhile Hyderabad State, medium projects, like Pocharam, Dindi, Palair, Vyra, Manair, Khanapur were constructed apart from Nizamsagar Project, which was completed in 1924-31. It was envisioned to utilize 58 TMC water to irrigate 2,75,000 acres of land in Nizamabad District. The total permitted utilization of water under Godavari and Krishna for Telangana region in erstwhile Hyderabad State was under 951 MOU. The following given table shows the River Basin with projects existing, under execution and contemplated. GODAVARI BASIN : EXISTING Total TMC 1. Nizamsagar Project 58.00TMC 2. Medium Projects 60.00TMC 3. Minor Projects 35.00 TMC 153.00
TMC UNDER EXECUTION Total TMC 1. Godavari Basin 364.00 TMC 2. Kadam 53.00 TMC 3. Lower Manair 12.00 TMC 4. Devanoor 27.0 TMC
465TMC CONTEMPLATED
1. Ichampally Project
32.00 TMC TOTAL 609.00 TMC KRISHNA BASIN :
EXISTING
Total TMC 1. Rajoli Banda
15-90TMC
2. Medium Projects
36-10 TMC 3. Miner Projects 90.80 TMC
142.00 TMC UNDER EXECUTION
1. Nagarjunsagar left canal
161.00 TMC 2. Tungabhadra left canal 19.00 TMC 180.00 TMC CONTEMPLATED 1. Upper Krishna Project 54.40 TMC
2. Bhima 100.60 TMC
155.00 TMC
Total
322.00 TMC
(TOTAL TMC OF WATER FOR GODAVARI AND KRISHNA
BASIN is 931.00 TMC) After the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh, the proposed projects under Godavari, Krishna basin were not implemented. Also the water resources were diverted to the Andhra region. Server projects envisaged under Godavari delta basin were ignored and Devnoor project was completely removed. The Pochampad project was sanctioned under pressure from Telangana leadership, but the entire water utilization under Godavari was now reduced from 400 TMC to 112 TMC. The reservoir capacity was finally sanctioned for storing 82 TMC of water. With this capacity, the Godavari valley projects irrigation is now reduced to 10.25 lakh acres from 40 lakh acres. Many projects sanctioned could not be implemented properly even after four decades of formation of Andhra Pradesh. Usually the allocation of water is based on the available
water in catchment area and the land available for irrigation. Under
the Nagarjuna Sagar Project's left canal, 161 TMC of water should
have been allocated, but only 82 TMC of water is available for irrigation.
The water allocation to the Andhra
Pradesh state was 1480 TMC under Godavari basin and 856 TMC under
Krishna basin. By looking at the ground facts, it is obvious that
how much disparity has been shown on Telangana region. The given
below are the facts of water allocation for Andhra and Telangana
regions from Godavari and Krishna rivers. The river Godavari flows for about 79%
of its catchment area in Telangana. Geographically about 70% of
Telangana land is suitable for irrigation. On this basis Telangana
region should get 70% (1036 TMC) allocation out of 1480 TMC and
the rest of 30% (144 TMC) only should have been allocated to Andhra
region. But the ground realities are quite different and shocking.
The water utilization under Godavari basin is about 760 TMC so far,
out of which 320 TMC of water is being diverted to Andhra region
as against 124 TMC. This resulted in diverting 281 TMC of water
from Telangana region to Andhra region. River Krishna is no different from river Godavari.
River Krishna flows for about 68.5% in the catchment area in Telangana
and 31.5% catchment in Andhra region. Only 37% of water
(266.8 TMC) is allocated to Telangana region against 68.5%. Where
as 500.1 TMC water is allocated to Andhra region. Only 27% of water
is available for cultivable lands in Telangana. It means 50% of
the Ayacut under Krishna basin in Telagana is not getting water. The following table which shows how
the total irrigated area in Telangana region decreased compared
to Andhra region from the year 1956 –97.
*Source:Director of Economics and Statistics, A.P. The total irrigated area in Andhra region increased from 24.45 lakhs hectares to 26.00 lakhs hectares where as the total irrigated area in Telangana region decreased from 9.12 lakh hectares to 7.18 lakh hectares, about 22% decrease. This shows a dangerous trend of decreasing cultivable lands in Telangana. The bar chart given below clearly shows the disparity between Coastal Andhra and Telangana region in utilising canal water for irrigation.
Distribution of surplus water under Krishna Basin The Krishna water tribunal awarded 800 TMC of water for Andhra Pradesh. It also permitted to utilize the surplus water as a tail end state. It was agreed after prolonged discussions on utilization of surface water between Andhra and Telangana Regions, that the surplus water should be utilized in the ratio of 50-50 of the available water resources. The allocation was made as follows. A) ANDHRA REGION 1) Telugu Ganga
Project 29
TMC 2) Sreesailam Right Bank Canal 19 TMC B) TELANGANA REGION 1)Sreesailam Left Bank Canal 30 TMC 2)Bheema Lift Irrigation 20 TMC Though allocation was made as above, so far the benefits are being accrued under Telugu Ganga Project and SreeSailam Right Bank canal. These schemes are being implemented with World Bank Loan by merging Sreeramsagar Project (in Telangana) by showing it as AP II, AP-III. The SreeSailam bank canal is yet to be completed, and Bheema left irrigation project is kept under cold storage. The future development of ayacut in Telangana is mainly dependent on the development and execution of Godavari river basin. Although The Andhra Pradesh Government has constituted Godavari utilization authority years back, so far there is no progress. The Inchampally and Polavaram Projects were planned on Godavari long back, but since last forty years interstate dispute was not resolved and these projects are kept pending. Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh reached an agreement in1978 regarding Inchampally. As per this agreement, Andhra Pradesh can utilize only 85 TMC of water and the balance of water can be utilized only to generate Hydroelectric Power. The expenditure has to be borne by Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra & Madhya Pradesh at the ratio of 78%, 10.5% and 11.4% respectively. Andhra Pradesh will get 27% of the generated power. Experts believe that the Inchampally project would benefit Andhra region more than Telangana region. Out of 360 TMC of water, only 85 TMC will be utilized for irrigation in Telangana. The rest of the water after utilization for generation of power will flow down wards to Dhawaleswaram Barrage or to Polavaram project. 1) Pedda Bellalla (below the confluence of kadem) 2) VenKatapuram down stream of ichampaiiy 3) Yellampally (further down to
Manchiryal) 4) Dummugudem (near Luxettipet)
With these
minor and medium projects and with lift irrigation, at least 200 TMC
of water can be utilized for 10 lakh acres in kharif and another 5
lakh acres in rabi seasons. Click on the
below links to have the detailed notes on the Irrigation projects on
Krishna and Godavari basins respectively. |
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