Centre Says No to AP Proposal on River Interlinking

Hyderabad:Putting an end to speculation over the point from where the Centre plans to take up project to connect the Godavari with the Cauvery, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) of Union jal shakti ministry has reiterated that the offtake point from the Godavari will be Icchampally in Telangana.

The NWDA’s informed its decision to Telangana and AP in a letter that Icchampally was the preferred location for the work to link Godavari in Telangana with Cauvery in Tamil Nadu. There is still an alternative that Telangana had proposed, the Samakkasagar barrage downstream of the Icchampally location.

The decision comes as a breather for Telangana, especially with AP recently pitching that instead of carrying Godavari water all the way from Telangana to Tamil Nadu, the Centre should begin the interlinking project using AP’s Polavaram-Banakacharla link scheme. Once AP mooted this proposal, Telangana is learnt to have scrambled and informed the NWDA that it was okay with the proposal to start the project from Icchampally. Telangana had previously not very enthusiastic about Icchampally saying that since the Samakkasagar barrage was already on its way, that should be used for the interlinking project.

There were also some concerns over submergence of land if the offtake point was Icchampally, and fears that sudden release of water from there during a possible flood, would swamp Samakkasagar and even damage the barrage downstream.