Andra Pradesh CM Jagan seeks central assistance for linking Godavari - Krishna through Telangana

Amaravati: Moving one more step ahead on the newly proposed River linking proposal – Lifting Godavari water to Krishna, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has sought the financial assistance from the central government.

In a letter to Union Minister for Jal Shakthi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Chief Minister explained that, Godavari Krishna link by lifting water from a mutually agreed location in Telangana state on river Godavari and dropping in Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam reservoirs will be the only solution for drought hit problem in the Rayalaseema area in Andhra Pradesh.

YSRCP MP V Vijaya Sai Reddy has handed over the letter to union minister on Wednesday in New Delhi, on behalf of AP government.

He further informed that, a meeting of the Chief Ministers of AP and Telangana was held in Hyderabad on June 28, 2019 along with the officials of both the States, to discuss on diversion of waters from Godavari river to Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs. This scheme will benefit the Rayalaseema districts and also Prakasam and Nellore districts besides stabilizing the ayacut under Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari in AP and Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Khammam and parts of Ranga Reddy districts in Telangana State coming under the purview of Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar Ayacut.

It is proposed to supplement about 480 TMC of Godavari waters to Krishna river reservoirs by diverting at the rate of 4 TMC per day from Godavari river to Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar for 120 days during the flood of Godavari.

The proposed scheme "Diversion of Godavari water to Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs" can be taken up through suitable agreements between two states for mutual benefit. Both Srisailam dam and Nagarjunasagar dam are joint properties of both the states.

In this context, he requested union government to consider providing Central assistance to take up the scheme and provide required funds as the scheme makes water available for the irrigation needs, drinking water and industrial requirements for the backward and drought prone districts of AP, by stabilizing Krishna Ayacut.

Further, Jagan explained that the present water levels in Krishna have been drastically reducing year after year and if the Almatti dam height increased, the water flow will be reduced.

The Rayalaseema region, Nellore and Prakasam districts of AP are perennially drought prone areas in the state. During the last 10 years i.e. from 2009-10 to 2018-19, the rainfall in this region is below normal for seven years and in remaining three years also, the rainfall is only marginally higher than normal. The ground water levels are also getting depleted. 80% of the piezometers in this area are showing fall in ground water level. Anantapur district in Rayalaseema is compared with Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan in terms of Rainfall & Drought.

The cultivable area in these 6 districts is 98.89 Lakh Ac., which is nearly 50% of the total cultivable area of 199.04 Lakh Ac. in the state. Irrigation Potential created is 39.77 Lakh Ac. The main sources of water are rivers Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar and other minor rivers and streams. The inflows into Srisailam reservoir, which is the main source of supply for this region, are getting reduced year after year.

The average inflow received in to Srisailam, the starting point of Krishna waters into Andhra Pradesh State during the last 52 years is 1128 TMC, whereas the same in last 10 years is reduced to 632 TMC and in the last 5 years, it is further reduced to 416 TMC. This shows that the inflows into Srisailam reservoir is reduced by about 63% in the last 5 years compared to the average of last 52 years. This is due to construction of new Projects and more utilization in the upper states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. With the proposed raising of the crest level of Almatti dam from +519.6 m to + 524.256 m, the storage capacity will increase by another 100 TMC and the inflows into Srisailam reservoir will further get reduced.

In this scenario of reduction of inflows into Srisailam, the starting point of Krishna water into Andhra Pradesh State and therefore into Nagarjunasagar reservoirs of Krishna basin and Somasila and other reservoirs are effected, as Krishna waters first reach Srisailam and then after the requirements are met the water is released to Nagarjunasagar and other reservoirs. Thus the whole Krishna basin is severely affected. At the same time there is availability of surplus flows in Godavari River, there is immediate need to explore ways to divert water from Godavari basin to Krishna basin, Jagan explained.

Godavari River has approx 2,500 TMC of surplus water at Pranahita confluence, Indravati confluence in Telangana and about 600 TMC at Shabari Confluence which in Andhra Pradesh . This entire flow of 3000 TMC, 80% of which is approx 2,500 TMC happens in 4 months during July, August, September and October months. Thus If this water is tapped into Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar Reservoirs when Godavari is in spate by inter linking of rivers, then that would mitigate the misery of drought prone Rayalaseema districts and Prakasam district and stabilize Krishna Ayacut. Therefore, Godavari Krishna link by lifting water will be the only solution for this problem.

This scheme will benefit the Rayalaseema districts and also Prakasam and Nellore districts besides stabilizing the ayacut under Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar Ayacut.

In order to explore various alternatives feasible for diversion of water from Godavari river to Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs an expert committee was constituted with in service and retired Engineers/experts of both the States.

The proposed scheme "Diversion of Godavari water to Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs" can be taken up through suitable agreements between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for mutual benefit of both states, to transfer the waters into Srisailam dam and Nagarjunasagar dam, which are joint Properties of both the states, he informed.