HYDERABAD: Chhattisgarh officials on Wednesday put TS in an advantageous position during a meeting on interlinking of rivers convened by Jal Shakti and National Water Development Agency (NWDA) in Delhi. Chhattisgarh changed its earlier stand on sharing unused waters of Indravathi with Telangana, AP and Tamil Nadu. Chhattisgarh officials informed the meeting that they were not willing to share their surplus share of 250 tmcft Indravathi water to AP, TS and Tamil Nadu. TS has already made its stand clear stating that unless Mahanadi and Indravathi are linked with Godavari, only then can Godavari waters be diverted to Cauvery basin as part of river linking.
TS did not agree to divert its share of 954 tmcft in Godavari, without linking Mahanadi and Indravathi with Godavari.“As Chhattisgarh officials did not agree for diversion of their waters, the Centre cannot divert Godavari water from Telangana,” an official said adding that it would be advantageous for TS.Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria chaired the 17th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) on Wednesday.
Secretary of Department of Water Resources UP Singh, Director General of NWDA Bhopal Singh and others were present. Superintending engineer GD Narahari Babu and executive engineer Katlamudi Prasad attended the meeting on behalf of Telangana. According to officials, when BJP was in power in Chhattisgarh, it has agreed to share its surplus water of 250 tmcft in Indravathi to AP, TS and Tamil Nadu. Telangana has agreed in principle for linking of rivers. But now with change of guard in Chhattisgarh, it has opposed to share its unused water, sources said. “We will send a reply shortly to Jal Shakti indicating TS’ stand on river linking in the wake of changed stand of Chhattisgarh,” TS officials said.