Hyderabad Telangana Reservoir Plan Faces Strict Wildlife Conditions
Hyderabad: A national wildlife assessment panel has recommended conditional approval for the proposed Dindi balancing reservoir inside the Amrabad Tiger Reserve, signalling an attempt to reconcile critical water infrastructure with biodiversity conservation. While recognising the project’s potential to improve irrigation and drinking water access, the committee has called for significant design changes to minimise ecological impacts within one of Telangana’s most important forest landscapes.
The Dindi reservoir project involves the diversion of nearly 180 hectares of forest land located within the reserve’s core and buffer zones. The proposal is intended to strengthen irrigation across approximately four lakh acres while improving drinking water availability for more than 500 villages affected by fluoride contamination. However, the expert committee concluded that infrastructure within a protected tiger habitat must be redesigned to reduce habitat fragmentation and safeguard wildlife movement. Instead of the proposed 20-metre-wide access roads, the panel recommended limiting carriageway widths to 4.5 metres, consistent with existing forest roads. Conservation specialists believe narrower roads can reduce disturbance to wildlife and lower the risk of vehicle-related animal deaths. The committee also called for a major expansion of wildlife mitigation measures along the project corridor. It recommended increasing the length of dedicated wildlife crossing structures from the originally proposed 74 metres to approximately 452 metres. These crossings would include box culverts and animal underpasses that allow small and medium-sized species to move safely through the landscape while maintaining natural water flow across the forest.
The Dindi reservoir project lies within a landscape that supports several protected species, including tigers, leopards and dholes. Environmental experts note that preserving ecological connectivity is essential for maintaining healthy wildlife populations, particularly in reserves where infrastructure projects intersect with critical habitats. At the same time, water resource planners argue that the reservoir could deliver substantial social and economic benefits by improving irrigation reliability and addressing drinking water shortages in fluoride-affected communities. This reflects the broader challenge facing rapidly developing regions: meeting growing infrastructure demands while protecting environmentally sensitive ecosystems. Urban and environmental policy analysts say the committee’s recommendations demonstrate a more integrated approach to infrastructure planning, where engineering solutions are expected to incorporate biodiversity safeguards from the design stage rather than as post-construction measures. Such practices are increasingly viewed as essential for climate resilience and sustainable regional development.
The proposal will now move through subsequent regulatory processes, with project implementation expected to remain contingent on compliance with the committee’s environmental safeguards. The outcome could become an important reference for future infrastructure projects planned within ecologically sensitive landscapes across India.
