The Telangana Government has convinced the Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) to assess the availability of water in the Godavari river first by taking up a hydrological survey before embarking upon preparing the detailed project report on the interlinking of Godavari-Cauvery.
Making a strong pitch for assessing the water availability in Godavari, Telangana Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao said at the Regional Conference of Southern States on Water Resources held here on Tuesday that Telangana had a total requirement of over 1,500 tmc ft water from Krishna and Godavari rivers and it would would have no objection in diverting water available over and above that quantity.
Sources stated that Mr. Rao was specific in highlighting the fact that dependability on Krishna waters was coming down gradually and in case Karnataka increases the height of Almatti dam, as allowed by the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, the award of which is yet to come into force, the flow of Krishna into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would be curtailed further. In such a scenario, diversion of Godavari water to the Krishna basin in the State would become inevitable some time in the future, he was said to have explained.
Mr. Harish Rao told reporters later that they could get an assurance from the MoWR that its demand on additional allocation of 45 tmc ft water in Krishna waters in lieu of diversion of over 100 tmc ft Godavari water to Krishna basin by AP would be addressed soon.
When the officials of Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards tried to make a point that the diversion of water by AP was not measured, Mr. Rao was said to have countered their view swiftly stating that the AP Government itself had claimed about the quantity of diversion “officially” by making it public. Then, Karnataka too supported Telangana's demand and also staked its claim on proportionate additional allocation in Krishna, it is said.
“By making the Karnataka officials, including its Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Rakesh Singh, speak about the modernisation of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) that it was cleared by combined AP government, including release of funds, but they (Karnataka) were not allowed to take up increasing the anicut height as proposed, Telangana has drawn the MoWR attention to the issue”, the sources said.
On the complaints of AP that Kaleshwaram was a new project taken up without the clearance of the river board, Chief Secretary of Telangana S.K. Joshi, who is also holding the additional charge of Irrigation Department, explained in detail that it was an old project cleared and taken by erstwhile AP government and it was only redesigned now.
