HYDERABAD: Jal Shakti secretary Debashree Mukherjee has made it very clear that the Centre may not be able to fulfil all the demands made by the state governments while executing the Godavari-Cauvery link project.
At the National Water Development Agency governing body meeting, conducted from Delhi on Tuesday, the Jal Shakti secretary called upon the states to come forward and cooperate for the implementation of the Godavari-Cauvery link project.
The ministry has proposed to divert only 148 tmcft of water and if the states demand more, then no water would be available for the link project, he said.
Telangana Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja, Engineer-in-Chief (General) G Anil Kumar, Deputy Director Subrahmanyam Prasad, AP Irrigation Chief Engineer (Hydrology) Ratna Kumar and other officials participated in the meeting virtually.
He directed the NWDA officials to convene a physical meeting in Delhi soon with all the states and reach a consensus on the link project. Later, the meeting of the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers would be held with secretaries of all the states, he said.
Telangana officials wanted the Centre to give 74 tmcft of water out of 148 tmcft proposed to be diverted from Godavari to Cauvery. They informed Debashree Mukherjee that they wrote to the Centre on this in October itself and requested allocation of 74 tmcft water to Telangana. The Telangana officials said that Nagarjunasagar project should be considered as a balancing reservoir for Godavari-Cauvery project only after the Krishna Tribunal delivered its verdict. The water being diverted from Sammakka barrage for Godavari-Cauvery link project should be used between 83-87 metres only.
The water from Sammakka barrage should not be drawn below 83 metres, as Telangana required 158 tmcft Godavari water for Sitamma project (70 tmcft), Sammakka (50 tmcft) and Devadula (38 tmcft).
The Centre should protect the water needs of Telangana for these projects. However, Telangana officials said that the irrigation system of Sammakka could be used for the Godavari-Cauvery link.
Recalling that the detailed project report of Godavari-Cauvery link project was taken up some 14 years ago, the AP government officials wanted to take up the link project from Polavaram. They wanted the Polavaram-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery link project taken up. However, the Union Secretary ruled out such a possibility.
He said that the Godavari-Cauvery was taken up to benefit all the states and not intended only for AP and Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra officials wanted the Damanganga-Vaitarna-Godavari project taken up by their government should be made a part of the Godavari-Cauvery link project.
Stating that the Godavari-Cauvery link project proposed allocation of only drinking water, Karnataka officials wanted allocations for irrigation too. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry officials said that they signed the agreements for the link project and wanted the Centre to take the consent from other states and start the project.