Farmers and elected representatives took a celebratory dunking in the water as the Godavari entered, a bit notionally, Krishna district at the village of Pallerlamudi on the way to her tryst with her sister river. The inter-linking of the Godavari and the Krishna, a pet project of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, is thus one step closer to reality.
Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Eluru MP Maganti Babu, Denduluru MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar and others performed special pujas on the banks of the Polavaram Right Main Canal at the village. “It’s a long-pending dream and it is finally going to be realised,” said Mr. Umamaheshwara Rao.
However, the events of the day were a bit notional. With the Pattiseema project still to receive its pumps from China, Irrigation Department officials released about 6000 cusecs of the Godavari’s water stored in the Tadipudi Lift Irrigation Project in West Godavari into the Polavaram Right Main Canal. The borrowed water flowed 130 km to reach the edge of Krishna district at Pellarlamudi village on Wednesday. Officials said the water will reach the Prakasam barrage on the Krishna river in three to four days via the Budameru and NTTPS canals. However, there is likely to be considerable transmission loss, normal for any irrigation project. “A 15-20 per cent transmission loss is inevitable,” said a senior official.
