Question : National Project Status to Upper Bhadra Project

(a) whether it is true that Investment Clearance Committee of the Ministry has given clearance to Upper Bhadra Project in Karnataka thereby paving the way to declare it a national project and informed Tungabhadra Board to undertake the project and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether it is also true that the proposal was sent to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for its approval, if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether it is true that as per the Inter-State River Disputes Act, 1956, opinion of lower riparian States is mandatory before announcing national project status in an upper riparian State;
(d) if so, whether opinion of States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been taken and if not, the reasons therefor; and
(e) whether the Ministry proposes to direct the Government of Karnataka to stop undertaking of Upper Bhadra Project, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

(SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU)

(a) & (b) Upper Bhadra project (UBP) has been accepted by the Advisory Committee on Irrigation, Flood Control and Multipurpose Project (Advisory Committee) of this Ministry of Jal Shakti, in its 147th meeting held in December, 2020. Thereafter, in April, 2021, the project has been accorded investment clearance by the Investment Clearance Committee of this Ministry for estimated cost of Rs. 16,125.48 crore at 2018-19 price level.

Subsequent to investment clearance, inclusion of a project under National Project scheme of this Ministry requires recommendation of High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and also necessary approvals by the Government of India.

(c) A project is put up to the Advisory Committee only if it is, inter-alia, found by Central Water Commission (CWC) to be clear from inter-State aspect, in accordance with the published guidelines. Since acceptance by Advisory Committee is a pre-requisite for consideration by HPSC, clearance from inter-State aspect is thus mandatory for a project to be considered as a National Project.

Further, the DPR of a project submitted to CWC for appraisal is required to be shared with the other co-basin States. The views of co-basin States on the inter-State aspects, if any, are dealt with appropriately by CWC while examining the project from inter-State aspect.

(d) In March, 2021 and subsequently in July, 2021, Government of Telangana made request to Central Water Commission (CWC) to defer the clearance given by Ministry to UBP, till finalization of Award of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT)- II. Detailed reply to both these letters has been forwarded by CWC to the State Government vide letters dated 02.06.2021 and 01.11.2021, respectively.

Further, in December, 2021 Government of Andhra Pradesh had requested, inter alia, not to go ahead with approval of the project till KWDT-II decision is published. A detailed reply to the State Government has been provided in January, 2022.

In replies to both the above States, it has been emphasized that the water allocation for the project is well within the allocations made by KWDT-I to the State of Karnataka, based on which the project has been cleared from inter-State aspect.

(e) In view of the acceptance by the Advisory Committee and subsequent investment clearance by Government of India, the State Government may take up implementation of the project as per its priorities and resources.

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