CWC Rejects Demand By Odisha & Others To Consider Backwater Effect Of Polavaram

Amaravati: The Central Water Commission has rejected the demand by Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana for considering the backwater effect due to probable maximum flood (PMF) discharge at Polavaram project on river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, reports said.

CWC chairman R K Gupta chaired a technical meeting of officers from the four states on Friday as a follow-up to the recent Supreme Court order on the Polavaram backwaters issue. Polavaram Project Authority Chairman Chandrasekhar Iyer also attended the meeting.

The CWC chairman noted that the major concerns of the party states were related to the spillway-designed flood, backwater effect of PMF and the protection measures to be provided to the affected areas in accordance with the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award.

“The Chairman has outright rejected considering the backwater effect due to PMF,” news agency PTI quoted a note on the technical meeting as saying.

While Odisha wanted considering 58 lakh cusecs PMF for both the spillway design and backwater effects,  Chhattisgarh sought finalising the PMF value for the (spillway) design as well as the backwater effect,

Odisha maintained that a joint survey was not acceptable to it until “things are settled and finalised”, the report said.

The Telangana government asked for a fresh backwater study in view of the anomaly between the CWC-projected effect and the actual flood observed. Telangana highlighted the impact of the flood in July this year, to buttress its demand for a fresh survey.

It has also pointed to the standing water effect when water (at Polavaram dam) is impounded and maintained at the full reservoir level, the note said.

Engineers-in-Chief of Irrigation from the four states and other senior engineers and consultants attended the meeting.

On September 29, the Union Secretary of the Ministry of Jal Shakti held a meeting with Chief Secretaries of the four states to sort out the issue.

Last month, the Supreme Court directed the Centre and the states concerned to settle the row over Polavaram through negotiations.