The Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project based on the Godavari River in Kaleshwaram, Telangana has been put on hold after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) declared its Environmental Clearance (EC) as ‘ex post facto’, which means the project might be retrospective after its completion.

Ex post facto is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that have been committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the concerned law.

As per the NGT notice, all works related to the project construction should be stopped except for the ‘drinking water’ part of the project, which may be continued until further guidelines. Additionally, NGT has also asked the Telangana government to issue a forest clearance before moving ahead with the project.

The project gained its Environmental Clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate change on December 22, 2017. The clearance was declared to be in violation of the law on October 12, 2020 and updated on October 20, 2020. This was done after a farmer had filed a petition on February 16, 2018, against the irrigation project and claimed to have been directly affected by it. As per the petition, the project was falsely claimed to be only meant for drinking water supply and not for irrigation when the EC had been sanctioned. Hence, NGT claimed the EC to be in violation of law and declared it ex post facto.

The Tribunal notice also said that the EC was granted by overlooking various factors such as a substantial increase in the capacity of Mission Bhagiratha, which was designed to provide drinking water to Hyderabad and other neighboring villages. As per the data, Mission Bhagiratha and the irrigation project were not interlinked earlier. Even the feasibility of this project had not been evaluated before granting the EC by the Ministry.

Telangana will harness water at the confluence of two rivers with Godavari by constructing a barrage at Medigadda in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district and reverse pump the water into the main Godavari River and divert it through lifts and pumps into a huge and complex system of reservoirs, water tunnels, pipelines, and canals.  This makes this project unique.

The KLIS project has set many records with the world’s longest water tunnels, aqueducts, underground surge pools, and biggest pumps. By the time the water reaches the last reservoir in the system, Kondapochamma Sagar, about 227 kms away in Gajwel district, the Godavari water would have been lifted to a height of 618 metres from its source at Medigadda.

The massive project is divided into seven links and 28 packages and involved digging of 20 reservoirs in 13 districts with a total capacity to store 145 thousand million cubic feet. The reservoirs are interconnected through a network of tunnels running about 330 km. The longest tunnel among them is 21 km long connecting Yellampalli reservoir with Medaram reservoir in Peddapalli district.

Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project will transform Telangana into an agricultural powerhouse. The project will enable farmers in the state to reap multiple crops with a year-round supply of water wherein earlier they were dependent on rains resulting in frequent crop failures. This year, Telangana farmers have already delivered bumper rabi crops of paddy and maize due to better irrigation facilities and an extended monsoon.

KLIS covers several districts that used to face deficit in rainfall and where the groundwater is contaminated with fluoride. Apart from providing water for irrigation to 45 lakh acres, a main component of the project is to provide a supply of drinking water to several towns and villages and also to twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

The Rs 43,000-crore project (Mission Bhagiratha) to supply drinking water to every household in villages, draws a large quantity of water from the KLIS and some quantity from projects on River Krishna. There is a fast-growing freshwater fishing industry in the state as the numerous water bodies created under the project are also being used to grow fish and locals are given rights to fish and sell.

The world’s largest irrigation project, Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, was referred to as Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanthi Project earlier. The total length of the entire Kaleshwaram project is approximately 1,832 km of which 1,531 km is gravity canals and 203 km comprises water tunnels. There are 19 pump houses, and 20 water lifts in the project. This decision by NGT is important as it will have large ramification, as it is a multi-purpose project which aims at providing drinking water supply to various regions of Maharashtra and Telangana along with a better irrigation facility.

 The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.