Reject pre-feasibility report on river linking: T’gana CM to Centre

TElangana chief government government minister A Revanth Reddy on th appealed to unification Jal sakti minister CR Patil to reject the pre-feasibility report of the Godavari-Banakacharla project proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government seeking to divert Godavari waters to the Krishna basin, an official statement read.The chief minister, along with state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy met with the union minister, apart from Union secretary Debashree Mukherjee and other senior officials of the ministry at Shramshakti Bhavan in Delhi.An official statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO) said Revanth Reddy briefed the union minister about how the Godavari-Banakacharla project was against the interests of Telangana state. He said the Andhra Pradesh government was taking up the project in contravention of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal-1980 (GWDT) and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.The chief minister said though the Andhra Pradesh government was claiming that the project was based on flood waters of Godavari, there was no mention of flood waters or surplus waters in the GWDT-1980.Reddy reminded that according to the 2014 AP Reorganization Act, if a new project is to be built in any state, it must first be discussed and approved by the Godavari River Management Board, Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Apex Council headed by the Union Jal Shakti minister and the chief ministers of the two states.“Andhra Pradesh violated all these important issues and was proceeding with efforts to construct the project,” he complained and appealed to the Centre to stop all works being undertaken as part of the Godavari-Banakacharla project. Revanth Reddy also told Patil that the Telangana government was ready for talks to discuss lifting of water to Penna basin by linking Icchampally – Nagarjuna Sagar, which will be funded by Centre, instead of Polavaram – Banakacharla, if Andhra Pradesh really believes there was any flood water in river Godavari.He also explained to the union minister about the change of Polavaram designs as per the GDWT -1980 regulations and works being carried out in violation of the environmental clearances despite objections being raised. He requested the union minister that the central government should pay attention to ensuring no violation of regulations took place while constructing the Polavaram national project.Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said it was not proper on the part of the Telangana government to create hurdles in his government’s attempt to utilise flood waters of Godavari, which was otherwise going waste into the sea.Speaking to reporters at Amaravati, Naidu said both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were utilising Godavari waters as per their requirements. “In fact, except Polavaram major irrigation project, all the other projects built by the two states had no permission from the Centre,” he said.He said Andhra Pradesh had never objected to the Telangana constructing projects on Godavari river like Kaleshwaram which is in violation of the tribunal award. “There is plenty of water in Godavari and no project will affect the interests of other states. Any disputes can be resolved through dialogue across the table,” Naidu said.