The irrigation department has yet again asked the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) to stop Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with the Godavari-Banakacharla link project in any form, especially in light of the AP government forming the ‘Jala Harathi Corporation’ to raise funds for the project.
Hyderabad:The irrigation department has yet again asked the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) to stop Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with the Godavari-Banakacharla link project in any form, especially in light of the AP government forming the ‘Jala Harathi Corporation’ to raise funds for the project.
In a letter to GRMB on Friday, Telangana’s irrigation engineer-in-chief (general) G Anil Kumar, said AP on April 8, issued orders creating the Jala Harathi Corporation as a special purpose vehicle to raise funds for the Godavari-Banakacharla link project. The letter said as per a GO issued by the AP government setting up the corporation, “the main purpose of the scheme is to divert flood water from Godavari basin” from Polavaram dam to the Banakacharla regulator on Srisailam right main canal.
This development happened immediately after the 17th GRMB meeting on April 7, he said. At this meeting, “the GRMB chairman and members from AP simply shrugged off this matter saying that the proposal is still in nascent stage,” Anil Kumar said in his letter.
In light of the corporation now being set up, he said, the GRMB should ensure that AP does not take the project proposal forward. At the April 7 meeting, Anil Kumar reminded the Board, that Telangana clearly objected to the project saying it was aimed at diverting more than 200 tmc ft of “undistributed remaining waters” of Godavari.
