The AP state government, which is giving priority to the Polavaram- Banakacharla linkage, registered the terms of reference required for environmental clearances for this project on the Parvesh website of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment on Thursday night. This is the first step in obtaining environmental clearances for the project.
On the one hand, the central government is explaining the importance of this project and taking steps to obtain financial funds. At the same time, efforts are underway to get clearances for the project from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Officials of the Water Resources Department, who have already submitted the pre-feasibility report to the CWC, went to Delhi and spoke to representatives of the Central Water Commission.
Later, they asked for 10 to 15 days to study this report. After that, if there are any objections in it, they will inform the state officials. After answering those objections, the CWC will call the state Water Resources Department officials for a meeting and discuss it. After that meeting, it will approve the pre-feasibility report. After that, the project will have to submit a full report.
On the other hand, the Central Forest and Environment Department will officially identify where the forest area is after examining the TOR. It will examine the conditions there, the areas where there are wildlife sanctuaries, and other factors and specify what to do in the next stage for environmental clearances. In the past, the Central Government had taken the proposals of the State Government forward on the Polavaram- Banakacharla project.
State officials explained the water transfer project from Polavaram to Banakacharla to the Central Finance Department for almost 2 hours at length. The State Government proposed the project at Rs. 81,000 crore. The benefits of this project to farmers and people were explained to the Center by the State Finance and Irrigation Department officials through a presentation.
Comprehensive details regarding this project were provided to the Central Finance Department. The benefits of the project, water distribution system, land acquisition, and the benefits and losses to the people were explained. He said that in the future, the Polavaram- Banakacharla project will continue as a self-financing project. The presentation also answered the objections raised by Telangana.