Posted: Updated – Fri, 11/18/22 11:45PM
Chief Engineer C Muralidhar has written to NWDA asking it to consider the proposal only if it is duly completed or at least actively under construction in the Mahanadi-Godavari link river interconnection project.
Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation Department officials reiterated that a study on water availability in Godavari is needed before proceeding with the Godavari-Cauvery river link project. Chief Engineer of Telangana Irrigation Department C Muralidhar wrote to the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) on Friday, asking it to consider the proposed project only after the Mahanadi-Godavari link linking the rivers is completed or at least actively under construction in due course.
He said that since the Godavari-Cauvery link proposal was finalized by the Central Water Board and NWDA, there was no excess water available for 75% drainage, and NWDA’s Godavari (Inchampalli)-Krishna (Pulichintala) link proposal from the same source was also not acceptable.
Explaining the actual situation, he said that the former state of Andhra Pradesh had proposed to build a dam at Inchampalli to utilize the waters of Godavari in the Telangana region, but Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh had not been able to do so due to their state’s Objection by drowning out questions. He informed that as the site is very close to the interstate border with Chhattisgarh, this may again raise objections from the state.
He said that the Sammakkasagar barrage is located 24 kilometers downstream of the Inchampalli barrage and that another large barrage nearby would make it difficult to divert floodwaters because the lag time between these reservoirs is very short.
The downstream utilization of the proposed site in Telangana is about 158 TMC and may be affected. Any water diversion should only be considered once Telangana demand is stabilized and available. Therefore, NWDA should conduct a study on Godavari’s water availability before embarking on this project.
