To deal with water scarcity in the south, surplus water from the Godavari may soon be channelled into the Cauvery and a meeting of chief ministers of different states will be held in this regard to chalk out a strategy.
This was announced by Union minister for water resources Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, as per a report in the Times of India.
Gadkari held a review meeting with Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami in Chennai and told reporters that there are two river-linking projects on the anvil which would provide relief to the states with water shortage.
“My ministry has decided to transfer surplus water from Godavari river to Krishna, to Pennar river (Karnataka) and finally to Cauvery. We will prepare the technical proposals and invite the four CMs (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana) to get their consent,” he said, as per a report in the Deccan Chronicle.
As per the plan, 300tmc will be initially transferred from the Godavari to the Polavaram project (Andhra Pradesh) through Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and then to river Krishna.
After being transferred to Somasila Dam on the Pennar river, the water will then be taken to the Grand Anaicut Dam on Cauvery, the report says.
“We will treat these projects as national projects because this is a river connectivity project….and 90 per cent of the project cost will be borne by Government of India and remaining 10 per cent by state governments,” he said.
While saying that 90% of the cost will be borne by the Centre and 10% by the state governments, Gadkari said that nearly 3,000tmc of water from Godavari was presently being wasted into the sea.
In case Karnataka does not agree to the plan, the Centre will go ahead with the second project of sourcing water from Indravati river to Nagarjuna Sagar dam, the DC report adds.
Meanwhile, the CM of Tamil Nadu also submitted a memorandum to Gadkari, urging the Centre to form a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee promptly as per the final order of the Cauvery tribunal.
"The farmers of the delta areas of Tamil Nadu who are dependent on the Cauvery water for irrigation are agitated over the long delay in constituting the board," the chief minister said.