Telangana Complains to Godavari Board on AP’s Banakacharla Project

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday complained yet again to the Godavari River Management Board over Andhra Pradesh’s Banakacharla project. Telangana, at a meeting of the GRMB at which officials from AP were present, said the neighbouring state was hiding project details and AP’s plan was to draw more water than its allocation which will severely and adversely impact Telangana.

Telangana said it has been more than five months since the GRMB received a letter from the Central government on the project but it was not being provided any information on the project. Andhra Pradesh must provide full details of the Banakacharla project, and its impact on Telangana, the Telangana irrigation department officials said.

The project was being taken up without any mandatory permissions or clearances, Telangana said. The officials said the Godavari-Banakacharla link project is expected to divert more than 200 TMCft of Godavari water from Polavaram to Rayalaseema though the Bollapalli reservoir and the Banakacharla head regulator. This proposal, the officials said, “seeks to interlink the Godavari, Krishna, and Penna rivers by expanding the Polavaram reservoir’s head regulator capacity which is against the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award.”

Officials from AP informed the meeting that a detailed project report for the Godavari-Banakacharla link is yet to be prepared.