Water from Polavaram to Kaveri.. Field level observation in AP and Telangana
Amaravati, Andhraprabha: Central Jalashakti hopes to look into the state government’s proposal to take up the Godavari-Caveri link to avoid the highly complex and costly land acquisition problem. To this extent, a delegation of the National Water Resources Development Authority (NWDA), which is responsible for the river linking process in the country, will visit AP. AP says that if water is moved to Godavari from the water expansion area of ​​the Polavaram project through Krishna-Pennala, there will be no need for land acquisition. NDWA proposed to lift Godavari waters from Ichchampally barrage in Telangana 141.3 t-mc to Nagarjuna Sagar (Krishna) and from there dig another canal parallel to the right canal and divert the water to Tamil Nadu Cauvery Grand Dam via Somasila and Kandaleru (Penna).
If this proposal is implemented, it will be necessary to acquire crop growing lands in Warangal, Karimnagar and Nallonda districts of Telangana along with Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts. AP says that if the Godavari waters are diverted from the same Polavaram expansion area, there will be no need for land acquisition. This proposal was proposed by the Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Redde himself in the meeting of the Regional Development Council of Southern States held earlier under the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Recently, in a meeting organized by NWDA at Hyderabad Jalasaudha, the top officials of the state water resources department gave a report on this matter.
In light of the fact that the task force committee headed by the Central Hydropower Advisor Vedire Sriram decided to discuss with the Chhattisgarh government, which is not agreeable to the connection of the rivers, the Central Hydropower has decided to examine the proposal of AP at the field level and prepare a report before those discussions. To this extent, NWDA experts will examine the route map of the catchment areas quoted in the proposal to move water via Krishna-Pennala along with Polavaram project expansion area. Telangana government has also proposed to divert Godavari waters from Sammakka (Tupakula Gudem) barrage. It is known that the NDWA team is also likely to examine the Telangana proposal at the field level.
Chattisgarh Sasemira..!
Chhattisgarh strongly objects to Godavari-Kaveri connection. The linking process has stalled at one stage after the Central Water Corporation (CWC) itself officially clarified that there is no net water allocated to all states based on 75 percent water availability in Godavari. After that, NDWA says that 141.3 TMC will be diverted from Chattisgarh when water is not used. At the time of using the water of Chhattisgarh, it has been proposed to move the water from Mahanadi to Godavari to that extent so that the interests of the state will not be disturbed.
Chhattisgarh strongly opposes this proposal. That is why the government of Chhattisgarh was not invited to the meeting held in Hyderabad by ET-Vala. The Task Force Committee revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Hydropower Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat will talk to that state. It is OK if Chhattisgarh agrees during the talks with the Prime Minister, otherwise the Center hopes to speed up the process of connection by seriously discussing alternative proposals.