HYDERABAD: Telangana Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar on Friday requested the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to take up the Godavari-Cauvery link project only after the completion of the Mahanadi-Godavari link.
In a letter to the NWDA, Muralidhar said: “There is no surplus water available at 75 per cent dependability, as ascertained by CWC/NWDA for Godavari-Cauvery link proposal, the Godavari (SMPP-Inchampalli) and Krishna (Pulichintala) link proposal of NWDA being from the same source also cannot be taken up. The proposal be considered only after the completion of at least the active construction of the Mahanadi-Godavari link of ILR project in due course”.
The Telangana officials pointed out that the erstwhile AP proposed a dam at Inchampalli for the utilisation of Godavari waters in the Telangana region. “But, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh objected to the proposal due to submergence issues in their States. Since the location is very close to the inter-state border with Chhattisgarh, it may again lead to objections from that State. The Sammakka Sagar barrage already constructed is located at just 24 km downstream of the Inchampalli barrage site. One more barrage nearby causes difficulties in routing the flood as the lag time is very less between these reservoirs,” they said.