The State government is focussing on linking the Godavari with the Penna to provide water to Rayalaseema districts on a permanent basis, Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said 792 tmcft of Godavari water had been discharged into the Bay of Bengal till date this season. “Even if a fraction of this water is transferred to the Penna Basin, Rayalaseema can be made into Ratanalaseema,” the Minister said.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was keen on linking of the two rivers and asked officials to focus on it.
Last year, Mr. Naidu could achieve what former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and his family could not for four decades by providing water to Pulivendula, he added.
He said water was being lifted from Srisailam project by the Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi Lift Irrigation scheme to provide drinking water for villages in Anantapur, Kadapa, Kurnool and Chittoor districts.
