NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) as court was told that the Telangana government was going ahead with the expansion of the project without any environmental clearance.
The Telangana government which completed the project works for impounding 2 tmc ft of water has taken up expansion works including land acquisition for increasing the capacity to 3 tmc ft. A bench comprising Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice J.B. Pardiwala ordered status quo even as the Telangana government told the court that petitions questioning the expansion of the project were politically motivated as farmers who were going to be impacted had accepted the compensation and rehabilitation package. The Telangana government told the court that they had environmental clearance for the original lift irrigation project and the same would hold good for the expansion of the project.
Observing that any expansion of the project without requisite environmental clearance may eventually come in the way of the project, the court posted the matter for further consideration on August 23.
In a batch of petitions, one of the petitioners Cheruku Srinivas Reddy questioned the expansion of the lift irrigation project on the ground of the absence of environmental clearance and contending that the environmental clearance for the original project would not hold good for the expansion of the project, said advocate K. Shravan Kumar appearing for Srinivas Reddy.
Shravan Kumar said the court on Wednesday also noted that the Telangana High Court seemed to have missed this aspect of the environment clearance for expanding the project. He brought to the court’s notice that the National Green Tribunal had rejected the government’s contention that fresh clearance was not required for the project expansion.
The Kaleshwaram irrigation project, a bone of contention between the ruling TRS and Opposition parties which allege large scale corruption, was in news when the pump house was inundated in the recent Godavari floods.
