To go or not to Godavari

M.C. Vaijayanthi


Telangana has been demanding separate statehood mainly on the grounds of lack of development vis-à-vis the rest of Andhra Pradesh. The region has been constrained by lack of water sources for irrigation and its topography made cultivation of large tracts difficult. So, when the Godavari Lift Irrigation project was taken up, a majority was in favour of the scheme despite controversies over the ultimate cost of the water that would be supplied.
The Godavari Lift Irrigation Scheme, billed as the largest lift irrigation scheme in the country to date, envisages lifting of water from Godavari river near Gangaram, Eturnagaram, Warangal district, to irrigate 6.47 lakh acres ayucat of upland drought-prone areas of Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda and Medak districts from 70 m to elevation of 540 m to utilise 50 tmc of water. The water would be transported through 200 km of pipeline using existing village tanks as online reservoirs.
There is no other reply to the question as to why AP resorted to a difficult process of lift irrigation; Wapcos, which did the consultancy work for the project, says, "Lift was the only option as gravity flow is not possible to take water from a lower region to Telangana which is on a higher level." During a discussion on GLIS the then superintendent engineer of the state irrigation department explained that after the river entered the state its level suddenly fell. "It falls at the rate of 1 to 1.9 meter per kilometre after confluence of Pranahita. At some points it falls by 0.7 to 0.8 metre per kilometre. Because of this the bed level of Godavari has fallen down compared to land available in the Telangana region. Compared to the land available in Telangana region, which is at a higher elevation, it is not possible to irrigate all lands under canal irrigation," he adds.
As per the detailed project report, GLIS is expected to cost Rs 5,216 crore: in phase-I, the work contract is valued at Rs 844 crore and in phase-II contracts worth Rs 1,887 crore have been issued.
n Under phase-I, 62 km of pipeline and concrete work of pump house intake have been completed, costing Rs 506 crore of the total Rs 844 crore. Work is in progress for laying 47 km of pipeline in forest area. Hindustan Construction Company Ltd is executing the project on turnkey basis with a two-year maintenance contract, along with Kirloskar Brothers Ltd which has a minority stake in the project.
n Under phase-II so far only 8 km of pipeline has been laid. The entire lifting operation would require 384 mw of power which the irrigation department plans to source from the proposed hydel projects at Dummegudem and Singareddy Palem. Till then, APGENCO has assured supply of power. A dedicated line is being laid by APTRANSCO at a cost of Rs 110 crore.

Major impediment
The major difficulty in executing the project has been obtaining forest clearance to the extent of 850 acres stretching over 47 km and land acquisition of 648 acres, says the AP irrigation department official in charge of the project. Even an earlier study had indicated submergence of 600 hectares of forest under this project. The rationale for such a costly exercise is that "out of 1,400 tmc allotted to AP, we have utilised only 680 tmc and we have 800 tmc of water still to be utilised. We have every right to utilise the remaining water."
The Godavari Lift Irrigation Scheme has been allotted 50 tmc and this water would be lifted during the monsoon when the water is expected to be available for 170 days. There will be no lifting during summer and there will not be any dam or barrage across the river under GLIS as it proposes to use a natural pond already in existence. Godavari Vedika, a forum consisting of NGOs, independent experts and concerned citizens, raised issues about the feasibility of this scheme. One of the main points it made is that the electricity costs would be very high, as much as Rs 7,000 per acre (estimated in 2003), and that the projected change in expected cropping patterns to raise commercial crops was unrealistic.
The WWF freshwater programme claimed that the project was economically unviable and asked the Austrian government not to fund GLIS - Austria was to fund the project to the extent of $477 million. "Instead of benefiting the farmers, as the Andhra Pradesh government claims, it could cripple them," says Biksham Gujja, Senior Policy Advisor, WWF Freshwater Programme, as per a posting on its website. Despite such reservations the project is under progress and as the cliché goes, only time can tell whether it will be a success or not. 

In the context of Telangana news today thought of this piece I did for Project Monitor in 2006. Have not followed up after I quit the paper and this page has also moved from their website and chanced upon this in some other forum.