The inter-linking of rivers Godavari - Krishna, Krishna - Penna and Penna - Cauvery as proposed in the Union Budget by Finance Minister NIrmala Sitaraman on Tuesday has thrown up a fresh controversy over water availability in the Godavari to take up to Cauvery in Tamil Nadu.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao termed the proposal as “joke of the millennium” reflecting the stated stand of the State government that there is no surplus water in Godavari for a project of this nature to run for 1,211 kms and cost ₹86 lakh crore.
The Andhra Pradesh government too held that there is no surplus water. The inter-linking of rivers (ILR) was a major programme contemplated by the Centre in 1980 to create additional storage facilities and transfer water from water-surplus regions to high demand areas.
Telangana government had extended conditional support to the programme at a meeting of the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) here last year.
It agreed to diversion of only part of the surplus/flood water in Godavari after accounting for full utilisation of State’s entitlement to 968 tmc ft water in Godavari basin to cater to irrigation needs of 80 lakh acres.
Conceptually, the government said ILR was contemplated to divert surpluses from Himalayan rivers to peninsular rivers on priority but this aspect was set aside and diversion from Godavari (Inchampalli - Cauvery link) was proposed as part of peninsular component by showing surplus water of 324 tmc ft (Telangana 177 tmc ft and Chhattisgarh 147 tmc ft) with 75% dependability at Inchampalli of Mahadevpur mandal in erstwhile Karimnagar district.
The State government recalled that NWDA itself had recalled water balance at Inchampalli at 520 tmc ft in 1995, 272.25 tmc ft in 2015 and 177 tmc ft in March 2021 itself.
The latest water balance availability also did not include complete utilisation of planned and grounded projects in Telangana. Chhattisgarh also said it had taken up schemes to utilise its share of 147 tmc ft., leaving no scope for any unutilised water. Therefore, it is prudent to take up peninsular component of the programme only after finalisation of surplus water at lower dependability and supplementation of water from Himalayan component and Mahanadi basin. Instead of considering a surplus at 75% dependability which in real terms is not there, the Centre should concentrate on diversion of surplus water at 50% or lesser dependability which otherwise is flowing into sea.
Telangana government also expressed concern that the link proposal aimed at off-take from the foreshore of Tupakulagudem barrage which affected the State’s projects -- Devadula and Sriramsagar. The proposed alignment also ran substantially through irrigated areas of Telangana which requires largescale land acquisition, including 733 hectares of forest, and affected command area in developed projects.
Also, storage at Nagarjunasagar which is the vital link to the proposal is just sufficient to meet its own existing demands. The Krishna water disputes tribunal - II is in the process of making operation protocol duly finalising the allocation to Telangana and AP. Without completing this process, it is not possible to make simulation analysis for water balance at Nagarjunasagar for diversion of Godavari water on adhoc basis.
