HYDERABAD: State irrigation officials, on Friday, asked the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to provide 50 per cent of the 247 tmcft Godavari water, proposed to be diverted to Cauvery, to Telangana. It also urged the NWDA to give the Godavari-Cauvery link project the ‘go-ahead’ only after approving this. The State made this demand in view of the large extent of land acquisition taking place in its territory, which was deprived of irrigation facilities for decades.
The Telangana officials, during a meeting with the NWDA officials on the river-linking project held at the Jala Soudha, demanded that the hydrology at Inchampalli be approved by the Central Water Commission (CWC) before proceeding on the detailed project report (DPR). Though the NWDA proposed to use Tupakulagudem as head work for the link, TS officials did not comment on the matter. This is the first meeting convened by NWDA after it finalised the DPR in 2020. Officials from nine States and one UT attended the meeting.
The draft DPR of Godavari-Cauvery link project was prepared in 2019 and final DPR was prepared in 2020, based on the inputs from all States. The NWDA held the meeting to build consensus among the stakeholder States. The NWDA has decided to go ahead with the project only after building consensus among the States. The States have expressed their views in Friday’s meeting and they wanted clarifications from the NWDA on their apprehensions in the meeting chaired by NWDA Director General Bhopal Singh. He wanted the States to send their fresh views within one month.
Speaking to reporters later, Singh said the link project was proposed to mitigate water shortage “Some States have more water, while some are facing a shortage. However, no State is saying that it has surplus water. All of them are demanding more water. The issues are very challenging,” he said and urged all States to respond positively. Singh mentioned that water from Himalayan rivers would be diverted to south. He also said that in the next phase, 229 tmcft of Mahanadi water would be diverted to the Godavari.On behalf of Telangana, Irrigation Engineer-In-Chief C Muralidhar and Chief Minister’s OSD Sridhar Rao Deshpande attended the meeting.
The view of the State is that the link alignment should be finalised with the consensus of AP and Telangana, as land acquisition and local issues come into play. The NWDA should consider the upstream utilisations of Telangana projects like Devadula (GLIS) and Tupakulagudem and downstream utilisations of Sitarama lift irrigation scheme and other ones planned by Telangana.The State also wanted the NWDA to carry out detail studies for diversion of Godavari waters, considering the monthly demands of Telangana projects.
VIEWS OF THE STATES
Officials from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Puducherry attended the meeting
Karnataka
Almatti-Pennar link is to be kept out of the scheme. The State of Karnataka should get the benefits of the project in the first phase itself
Maharashtra
The water utilisation patterns will change due to the link project. The awards of the tribunals of all the rivers should be protected
Andhra Pradesh
There’s no water in the Godavari river. We have requirements at 75% dependability. We will not allow to divert Godavari water at 50% dependability
Telangana
Firm up the availability of Godavari waters for Telangana
Chhattisgarh
We are opposing the project outrightly. The State is planning to utilise its allocated quantity in Indravati sub-basin
Kerala
Kerala is not a beneficiary, while the neighbouring State of Tamil Nadu is enjoying the benefits. Take our views too
Madhya Pradesh
The link project can be taken up
Odisha
The link project can be taken up
Tamil Nadu
The State is in favour the project. The Poondi reservoir may be linked with Araniyar reservoir so that 609 tanks with a capacity of 15 tmcft can be filled up. The Tamil Nadu also suggested some changes in the alignment of the project in Tamil Nadu
GODAVARI-CAUVERY LINK
The plan is to divert 247 tmcft of Godavari water into Cauvery river via Krishna and Penna
rivers
Estimated cost - Rs 85,96,236 cr
Godavari (Inchampalli) - Krishna (Nagarjuna Sagar) link- 299 km
Krishna (Nagarjuna Sagar) - Pennar (Somasila) link - 394 km
Pennar (Somasila) - Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link - 518 km
It is estimated that one crore people will get drinking water
IRRIGATION BENEFITS
Telangana - 3,67,305 ha
Andhra Pradesh - 3,45,271 ha
Tamil Nadu - 3,85,742 ha
Total - 9,44,572 ha
Benefit cost ratio (BCR) - 1:24
Internal rate of return - 11: 90