Godavari river water is set to enter Krishna district on July 14 and reach Prakasam barrage through the Pattiseema project in another two days.
The confluence of the two mighty rivers will take place at Ferry near Ibrahimpatnam where the Krishna Pushkaram is planned to be celebrated on an unprecedented scale along with other river fronts.
The Pattiseema project was designed to lift 80 tmcft of surplus water from the Godavari between July and October from the ongoing Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project as per the permission accorded by Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT).
The water will be lifted and pumped upstream of the Krishna in Vijayawada through the Polavaram Right Main Canal (RMC).
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said engineers of the Irrigation Department were treading cautiously in bringing the Godavari water as the Polavaram RMC is a new system.
Godavari water would enter Krishna district after travelling about 100 km through Tammileru and Gunderu.
“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is now in Russia, is in touch with the officials concerned and insisted that Godavari water should flow as planned and wanted necessary action taken in right earnest,” Mr. Rao said.
The Government had decided to build a lift irrigation scheme at Pattiseema village in Polavaram mandal in West Godavari district to tap the Godavari river water for meeting the irrigation needs of Krishna delta before the Polavaram project is completed. Mr. Naidu had inaugurated the Pattiseema project by switching on the first motor on August 15, 2015.
The Minister said about 14,61,822 cusecs of Godavari river water had flowed down into the sea as on Tuesday and only 12,000 cusecs could be tapped since June.
The Polavaram project would impound and curb wastage of Godavari river and eventually benefit the Krishna delta through Pattiseema.
The Minister said most of the irrigation projects had received copious inflows and the Agriculture Department was gearing up to take up kharif operations.
