VIJAYAWADA: With discussions on Godavari-Cauvery interlinking gaining pace, irrigation experts of Andhra Pradesh are of the opinion that the infrastructure available in form of the Polavaram project should be utilised for the purpose instead of going for alternatives, given the cost, time, and rehabilitation issues involved.
During a meeting held on the subject by the National Water Development Authority (NWDA) in mid-February, water resources department officials from the State explained the same.
The only thing required is to enhance the carrying capacity of the existing canals from the Polavaram project and other projects to be linked, says Y Nagendranath, a farmer leader.
The Former Drainage Board member said any interlinking should happen through the territory of AP so the people of the State stand to benefit. “Icchampally project in Telangana was proposed as an alternative, but given the prohibitive cost and rehabilitation of thousands of tribals and possible destruction of thousand of hectare of forest land, it is better to use Polavaram, and the flow from the project to Krishna will be based on gravity, not the costly power-guzzling lifts,” he observed.
He said when water flows from one place to another, the groundwater recharges and benefits the lands in the immediate vicinity. “In the form of Polavaram project and its Right Main Canal, the readymade setup for taking Godavari water to Srisailam for catering the needs of Krishna River Basin is already present. It would help in rejuvenating the Krishna River down Nagarjuna Sagar,” he said.
Godavari has a flood flow of more than one lakh cusecs for 115-130 days and around 3,000 TMC of water is going waste into the sea. “Objective of Polavaram is to utilise that surplus water and there is no other major project besides Polavaram, downstream of the point where Sabari river joins Godavari. Sabari has copious inflows most of the year and unfortunately we are not able to tap the same. By making Polavaram part of Godavari-Cauvery river-interlinking programme, that water can be effectively used. All we need is to enhance the canal carrying capacity of Polavaram Right Main canal from 11,000 cusecs to 35,000 to 40,000 cusecs, which means 3 -3.5 TMC of water can be transported conveniently per day,” he said.
The water diverted can be stored in either Pulichintala or Nagarjuna Sagar and using the canal network and the new infrastructure to be provided under YSR Palnadu Drought Mitigation project, the water can be diverted to Somasila project on Penna river, from where the water can be taken on Tamil Nadu for linking it with Cauvery river.
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