Big dam project may lead to state-AP standoff

In what could lead to a major stand-off between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh on the river water sharing agreement, the Democratic Front (DF) government has sent a letter to the YS Rajasekhar Reddy government not to go ahead with its proposed big dam project on a major tributary of Vainganga river. The Andhra government does not have prior approval for the project from the government of Maharashtra.

The state government has also written to the Central Water Commission, New Delhi, to refuse permission to the proposed Rs38,500 crore big dam project on Pranhita River, the foundation stone for which has already been laid. The state has informed the commission that the AP government had not sought its permission.

The dam will submerge hundreds of villages in Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts if it comes up, and engineer a major stand-off between the two states. Pranhita, a tributary of the Vainganga, meets the Godavari in A; the dam is proposed on its side along the border in Kautala Mandal, Adilabad.

Water resources minister Ajit Pawar informed the House that the Andhra government had not intimated or consulted the Maharashtra government about the project or its consequences.