Nimmala Offers Godavari Surplus Water To Telangana

Vijayawada: In a reaction to the Supreme Court disposing of Telangana's writ petition raising objection to Andhra Pradesh taking up the Polavaram Nallamalla Sagar Link Project, Minister for water resources Nimmala Ramanaidu said once the project gets executed, it will help meet AP’s interests, and if there is surplus water, Telangana can also use such water.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, the minister said that after the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the people of AP did not object to Telangana taking up the Kaleswaram project because the Godavari River would have sufficient water.

The minister made it clear that out of an estimated 3,000 tmc ft of water getting wasted into the sea from the Godavari river every year, Andhra Pradesh intended to use 200 tmc ft of water only by taking up the PNLP and reiterating that AP had been maintaining that the project would cause no harm to Telangana.

Referring to the wish of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that the people living in both the Telugu states should live with fraternal feeling, the minister explained the statistical data of Godavari water getting drained into the sea by saying that in the last 50 years, an estimated 1.53 lakh tmc ft of water wasted into the sea and in 2025 itself, nearly 4,600 tmc ft of water was drained into the sea.

Maintaining the low-riparian status of AP with regard to the Godavari River, the minister said they could use the water only at Polavaram; otherwise, it would be drained into the sea.