HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has proposed two reservoirs in the Krishna river basin to utilise Godavari waters.
While accepting the transfer of Godavari water from Icchampally with conditions, for the proposed Godavari-Cauvery link project, the state government made it clear that it wants a 74 tmcft share, which is 50 per cent of the total water to be diverted through the link.
At the 6th consultation meeting convened by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) at Jala Soudha here on Friday to arrive at a consensus for implementation of Godavari-Cauvery Link Project, the Telangana Irrigation officials wanted to have liberty to use 74 tmcft anywhere from the river in the state.
Speaking to the TNIE after the meeting, an official said that the government proposed to construct two reservoirs in Krishna river basin for this purpose.
Telangana officials, however, opposed the four intra-link projects proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government during the meeting, which was attended by Telangana Irrigation Principal Secretary Rahul Bojja and Godavari Basin Deputy Director S Subramanya Prasad.
They argued that the Union government should protect the state’s right for 968 tmcft assured waters and clear all the pending projects proposed on Godavari, before transferring Godavari waters to Cauvery basin.
Planned utilisation
Stating that their planned utilisation was 38 tmcft for Devadula, 67 tmcft for Sitarama and 47 tmcft for Sammakka barrage, the Telangana officials wanted the Centre to not disturb their plans.
The officials also suggested avoiding alignment of Icchampally and Nagarjunasagar project and conducting a joint survey to minimise the submergence in Telangana. They wanted the Centre to use the Nagarjunasagar Tail Pond, instead of NSP, which has seven tmcft of storage facility.
The Telangana officials said that they would sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the Godavari-Cauvery link project only if they are satisfied with the guidelines prepared by the NWDA and also after all the issues are resolved. They also proposed to utilise 200 tmcft floodwaters available in Godavari.
Opposes Banakacherla proj
The Telangana officials raised objections against the Polavaram-Banakacherla project proposed by Andhra Pradesh. “We said in the meeting that once the Centre submitted a detailed project report on the Icchampally-Godavari link, then only Telangana will give its consent,” Rahul Bojja said later.
The Chhattisgarh officials said that they had 301 tmcft in Godavari and were already utilising 163 tmcft water. For utilising the remaining 140 tmcft, Chhattisgarh was planning to construct a project at Bodhghat.
Central Water Commission chairman Atul Jain, however, said that Chhattisgarh proposed a hydroelectric project and therefore water would flowdown stream as it is. However, the Chhattisgarh officials said that initial plan of hydroelectric project was shelved and they were now planning to construct a multi-purpose irrigation project to utilise 100 tmcft for power generation, drinking water needs and also to irrigate around 10 lakh acres.
At this time, Atul Jain intervened, saying that the Centre would stop the project if Chhattisgarh started using its water share in Godavari. The CWC chairman, however, stated that it would take at least 15 years for Chhattisgarh to construct the project at Bodhghat and in the meantime the available Godavari water would be used for the proposed link project. If Chhattisgarh utilises its share in Godavari, then the Centre would divert water from Mahanadi (Himalayan component) to Cauvery.
Chhattisgarh also raised concern that 170.6 hectares of land and four villages would be submerged in their state due to the proposed Godavari-Cauvery link. They suggested some alternative plan to avoid the submergence and also suggested the NWDA to take surplus waters if any in Godavari.
Karnataka’s objections
Meanwhile, Karnataka officials objected to Centre’s proposal to allocate only 35 tmcft to their state in the link project and wanted that allocation to be increased to 40 or 45 tmcft. The Karnataka officials also opposed using Tungabhadra for the link project, as its storage was reduced drastically due to silt. They suggested an alternative intra-link.
Central funding
However, the CWC chairman said that if Karnataka agreed for inter-link, the Centre would provide funds. If it proposes an intra-link, the respective state government should bear the expenditure for the same. Karnataka also informed that it would sign MoA only after all the issues were settled.
However, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry officials welcomed the Godavari-Cauvery link project and expressed their willingness to sign the MoA immediately. But, Puducherry officials wanted an increase in their proposed quota from 2.4 tmcft to 7.4 tmcft, as they needed water for drinking purposes.
The Maharashtra officials wanted 41 tmcft. “About 48% of the Godavari is in our state, and yet you are ignoring us. Consider our intra-link projects,” the Maharashtra officials argued in the meeting. They also wanted additional water for Krishna, as per the Bachawat Tribunal award. The Odisha officials did not participate in the meeting.
AP’s Polavaram proposal
The officials of Andhra Pradesh suggested that the source location of Polavaram be considered as an alternative to Icchampally. The intra-link projects proposed by AP are: Chintalapudi LIS, Babu Jagjeevan Ram Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi, YSR Palnadu Drought Mitigation Project and formation of Gundrevula Reservoir.
The view of AP was that if these intra-link projects are taken up in the first instance well before G-C link project, water can be supplied to drought prone areas and the tail end ayacut, which is rarely gets water. When the aspirations of the people of AP are fulfilled through these intra-link projects, they will gain confidence on transfer of water by Inter Linking of Rivers (ILR) and will not oppose the G-C Link Project. Further, these Intra Link Projects may become part of Godavari-Cauvery Link Project also, they pointed out.