Hyderabad: Officials from the Telangana Irrigation Department reaffirmed the need for research on Godavari’s water availability before beginning the project to link the Godavari and the Cauvery river.
The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was asked to consider the proposal only after the completion of at least active construction of the Mahanadi-Godavari link of the Inter-linking of rivers project in due course in a letter written by Telangana’s Irrigation Department’s Chief Engineer, C Muralidhar, on Friday.
According to him, because the Godavari (Inchampalli)-Krishna (Pulichintala) link proposal of NWDA is from the same source as the Godavari-Cauvery link proposal, it cannot be implemented because there is no surplus water available for diversion at 75 percent dependability, as determined by Central Water Commission and NWDA.
He explained the situation on the ground by saying that the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh had suggested building a dam at Inchampalli to use Godavari waters in the Telangana region, but Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh had protested because of submersion problems in their respective States. He warned that since the area is so close to Chhattisgarh’s interstate border, the State might once more object.
He said that because there is just a 24 km gap between the Inchampalli barrage site and the Sammakkasagar barrage, adding another significant barrage close will make it impossible to route the water.
Around 158 TMC of downstream utilization from the proposed Telangana site could be impacted. Only once Telangana’s requirements have been made firmly available can any water for diversion be considered, he said. Therefore, before beginning the project, the NWDA should conduct research on the availability of water in Godavari.
