Telangana says no to Centre's plan to divert Godavari water

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has objected to the proposal to draw Godavari water from Icchampally in the state. The National Water Development Corporation (NWDC) has proposed to draw 247 tmcft from Godavari and divert it to Krishna and Pennar basins as part of project to link Godavari and Cauvery.
"During the general body meeting of the NWDC on Wednesday, the Telangana government argued that there is no excess water available in Godavari at Icchampally.To confirm this, we have suggested to conduct hydrology study to know the water availability for which the Centre agreed," a senior official from Telangana irrigation department, who participated in the virtual meeting, told TOI.
The state government had already informed the NWDC that they were against the proposal in principle as the Centre should consider diverting Godavari water from Icchampally only after meeting the requirements of Telangana. The Centre said the link from Icchampalli would also benefit the water-stressed areas of Telangana en route the link canal as compared to other areas. As per the proposal, daily 2.2 tmcft of water from Godavari would be first diverted to Krishna at Nagarjuna Sagar and from there it would be taken to Pennar during the southwest monsoon. The NWDA has already prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for linking both the rivers which is estimated to cost Rs 85,000 crore.
The Tamil Nadu CM Stalin had written to both Telangana and AP governments in October last year seeking their support as it would help the state especially Chennai. Stalin said that the state had already got an allocation of 83 tmcft from the erstwhile AP government.
Official sources said a meeting had been conducted by the task force on Godvari-Cauvery linking DPRs in September 2020 seeking comments of AP, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
In that meeting, the Centre had said that water diversion from Godavari basin out of allocated share of AP or Telangana to Krishna or Penner basin will belong to the respective state and the same can be be utilised as per their planning.
"Only unutilised water will be taken for diversion. If the proposal fit into the national perspective, the Centre would extend help in the implementation of the project," the Union ministry of jal shakti had informed the Telangana government.