A couple of days after the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government asking it to stall the works on the controversial Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme on Godavari river, the National Green Tribunal took the government to task.
The Chennai chapter of NGT, which was hearing a petition of a Telangana activist Garimella Srinivas, on Friday took serious note of the AP government’s move to go ahead with the project despite an earlier instruction by the tribunal.
The NGT warned that it would not hesitate to send chief secretary Adityanath Das to jail if the state government resorts to contempt of the tribunal by continuing the works on Rayalaseema lift scheme ignoring its earlier orders.
The AP government, however, told the tribunal that it had already stopped the works and applied to the Centre for various permissions. But the tribunal did not believe the government’s submission.
The NGT directed the KRMB and Union ministry of environment and forests to submit a report on the present status of the Rayalaseema lift scheme. The case was posted to July 12 for further hearing.
On Tuesday, the KRMB, acting on a complaint by the Telangana government’s letter, instructed the Andhra Pradesh government not to take up the works on the Rayalaseema lift scheme, till a Detailed Project Report (DPR) was submitted and appraised by the board and Central Water Commission (CWC) and sanctioned by the Apex Council as per the provisions of APRA-2014.
