HYDERABAD: With all the seven stakeholder states giving in-principle nod for the draft, the Central government decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Godavari-Cauvery link project before January, 2024. The meeting of the ‘Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers’ (TF-ILR) was held at Jala Soudha in Hyderabad on Friday and details about various projects, including the ‘Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery’ link project were discussed.
Sriram Vedire, chairman of the TF-ILR, chaired the meeting which saw the attendance of Central Water Commission chairman, director general of National Water Development Agency, officials from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and experts from the task force.
Speaking to reporters, Sriram said that all the seven states gave their in-principle consent for the Godavari-Cauvery link project. He said that ‘un-utilised waters’ for the link project. He said that surplus or allocated waters would not be used for the project. He said that 148 tmcft of Godavari water would be diverted from Icchampally to Cauvery via Nagarjuna Sagar and Somasila.Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana agreed to this proposal, he said.
According to sources, the final copy of MoU would be circulated to states by December end and an agreement would be signed by January 15, 2024. The chief ministers of respective states have to sign the MoU. The MoU would be signed once the elections in Telangana are completed, sources added.
Andhra Pradesh irrigation principal secretary Shashi Bhushan Kumar wanted the Central government officials to divert water from Polavaram. He highlighted the problems of land acquisition for the link project.
He also demanded to convene a separate meeting to discuss the technical issues of the link project.
Telangana Irrigation engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar opposed the proposal to use Icchampally for diverting Godavari water.He suggested the Centre use Sammakka-Sarakka (Tupakulagudem) barrage for the same.