BJP Warns Against Change in Godavari-Cauvery Link Alignment

Hyderabad: BJP Telangana president N. Ramchander Rao on Sunday said that the state government must first complete all assured Godavari basin projects before looking at additional water under the Centre’s Interlinking of Rivers project.

In a letter written to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, he said the utilisation of Telangana’s allocated share of Godavari waters should take priority, and only after that can the state properly consider the benefits of the proposed interlinking scheme.

Rao said the Godavari-Cauvery interlinking project, as planned by the Centre, would connect the Godavari at Inchampalli in the state to the Cauvery at Grand Anicut, with the alignment passing through the Nagarjunasagar Project on the Krishna and the Somasila Project on the Penna. He said the project would help share additional waters not utilised by Chhattisgarh among nearly seven states, with 90 per cent of the cost being borne by the Union government.

He described the project as a major contribution to Telangana and other states by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, but cautioned against any move to shift the source or alter the alignment from Inchampalli to Nagarjunasagar, as reported in a section of the media over the past month. Such a change, he said, would be detrimental to Telangana’s interests and could weaken the state’s ability to first secure full use of its own assured waters.

Rao expressed serious concern over what he called the state government’s “non-serious” approach to planning and implementing irrigation projects in the Godavari basin. He said Telangana’s rightful share of Godavari waters — about 968 tmc ft — was still not being fully utilised despite repeated project clearances and years of delay.

He argued that although the Centre had approved several major projects after Telangana was formed in 2014, including Kaleshwaram, Seetharama Sagar, Sammakka Sagar and other lift irrigation schemes, their execution has remained slow.

He said the Kaleshwaram barrages were damaged due to poor design and construction under the previous BRS government, and claimed the Congress administration had failed to act decisively on the rehabilitation recommendations of the National Dam Safety Authority.

The state BJP president said the Seetharama project and Sammakka Sagar project were progressing slowly because of delays in completing technical approvals and command area planning. He reiterated his criticism of the Congress government for delays in Godavari basin projects, saying poor planning and weak implementation had already deprived Telangana of timely irrigation benefits. He urged the Chief Minister to act immediately to protect the state’s water share and avoid any planning decision that could further damage its interests.