Water Development Agency meet on Feb 18 on Godavari-Cauvery link project

The National Water Development Agency, under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, will hold a consultation meeting in New Delhi on February 18 with the secretaries of water resources departments of southern states to explore the way forward for the implementation of Godavari-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) Link Project.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry are party to this river interlinking project.

An alternative link proposal has been framed for transfer of surplus water from Godavari to Krishna basin and further south up to Cauvery delta for deriving early benefits of Inter-Linking of Rivers programme in water-short peninsular river basins.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) on Godavari (Inchampalli) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut) Link Project has been prepared last year and circulated to the states concerned and a consultation meeting was also held in October last to discuss various issues.

The Godavari-Cauvery link has been declared as a priority project and the Centre is keen to take it forward for a ''long-term and holistic solution to the water needs of peninsular region,'' an official note said.

The link envisages transfer of about 247 tmc ft of water from Godavari to Krishna, Penna and Cauvery delta.

The project consists of three vital links: Godavari (Inchampalli) - Krishna (Nagarjunasagar), Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) - Penna (Somasila) and Penna (Somasila) - Cauvery (Grand Anicut).

The Government of Tamil Nadu requested for providing 200 tmc ft of water in the phase-1 of the project for meeting its demands.

The draft DPR, though, made a provision of only 84 tmc ft for meeting the irrigation, domestic and industrial needs of Tamil Nadu.

In this backdrop, the Union Department of Water Resources Secretary will hold a meeting with the secretaries concerned of the southern states to ''brainstorm the ways to build consensus among the party states and the UT for taking the link project forward for implementation,'' the NWDA Chief Engineer R K Jain informed in a letter.

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