Vijayawada : The Andhra Pradesh irrigation department officials today strongly denied fears expressed by Telangana leaders that they have been moving to increase of the Polavaram project height by 36 feet.  Allaying the fears of Telangana state, AP irrigation officials confirmed that there was no such proposal. It was reported that the Polavaram project height would be increased by 36 feet so that AP could store 500 tmc water instead of the proposed 194.6 tmc. This created a flutter among the people of Telangana state, as any increase in height would damage the prospects of the Telangana further.

Reacting to this, Telangana irrigation minister T Harish Rao said that they would not allow AP to increase the height of Polavaram by 36 feet. He warned that they would consult Orissa and Chhattisgarh states and jointly oppose any proposal to increase height of the Polavaram project. He cautioned that that even if Polavaram was constructed with 150 feet height, as many as 277 villages would be submerged and around two lakh Adivasis would be dislocated. ”If the height of the project is further increased, the entire Lord Rama temple in Bhadrachalam will be submerged in backwaters”, he added.

However, top irrigation officials clarified that there was no proposal to increase the height of Polavaram project. AP officials stated that the present design of Polavaram project with a height of 150 feet was prepared after the second agreement reached between AP, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in 1980. ‘There may be a proposal to construct Polavaram project with 186 feet height when the first agreement was reached among these states in 1946. But, there is no such plan in the second agreement signed in 1980.’ an official clarified.

They also stated that as per the AP Reorganisation Act, the Polavaram Authority will be formed and the construction will be taken up by the Centre. AP cannot increase the height of the project on its own. (HS)