The Telangana government has also applied for permission from the Central Electricity Board for the Sitamma Sagar barrage and pumping station, irrigation officials said.
Published Date – Tue, 02 May 23 at 09:00 AM
Hyderabad: The state government is taking steps to obtain the Environmental Permit (EC) and other necessary permits from the competent authorities as soon as possible for the Sitamma Sagar Multipurpose Project (SSMPP), which is part of the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project.
Irrigation officials said the new Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project sent by the state government to the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the joint Department of Environment and Forests is likely to be accepted and all necessary permits, including environmental clearances, issued soon. will be granted. The state has also applied for a permit from the Central Electricity Board for the Sitamma Sagar barrage and pumping station, they said.
According to Chief Irrigation Minister Sridhar Rao Deshpande’s Officer of Special Duties (OSD), the state already has an EC for the project, for which the Expert Assessment Committee (EAC) had given it new terms of reference (ToR) in June 2022.
However, since the state government wanted to build a 320 MW power plant, it required changes to the existing EC, and the EAC recommended a detailed assessment of possible environmental and social issues, after which the state government prepared a new DPR and included it Sent to CWC and the Ministry of Environment, he said.
“The state government has prepared a comprehensive DPR and sent it to the CWC and the Department of Environment. We look forward to the EC and other permits being granted by the Center soon,” he said. Deshpande said the project has all the necessary permits including hydro permits and barrage components that only require EC and some other permits that the state government has already taken steps towards.
Commenting on the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Southern District Judge, he said the tribunal did not suspend the project but only asked for the EC. “We’re working on it. Once we get the EC, we’ll get to work,” he said.
The Sitamma Sagar Multipurpose Project aims to construct barrages and develop hydropower projects to generate 320 MW (8 units x 40 MW) of electricity and supply irrigation water to a command area of about 273,000 hectares under Sitarama Lift Irrigation on demand project. The total cost is estimated at Rs 3,481.90 crore.
The project requires 3121.14 acres of land in 63 villages of Aswapuram, Cherla and Dummugudem mandals. At present, about 2640.39 mu of land has been acquired, of which 2485.18 mu of land has been handed over to the water conservancy department.
