Telangana asks NWDA to invite Chhattisgarh for River Inter-Linking meet

Telangana government has appealed to the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to invite Chhattisgarh to the meeting of Task Force for Inter-linking of Rivers slated to be held on March 6 at Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has appealed to the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to invite Chhattisgarh to the meeting of Task Force for Inter-linking of Rivers slated to be held on March 6 at Hyderabad, as its presence was important for the proposed Godavari-Cauvery river linking project.

NWDA director Bhupal Singh would be discussing issues related to river connectivity with the Secretaries of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kamataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and other States.

Telangana Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar on Friday wrote a letter to the NWDA asking it to invite Chhattisgarh to the meeting. Muralidhar in his letter said since the proposal of Godavari (Inchampalli)-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link involves the transfer of unutilised share of 141 TMC of Chhattisgarh, no meaningful discussion could be initiated and conclusion drawn for taking forward such proposal in the absence of Chhattisgarh. Hence the presence of Chhattisgarh was mandatory for the aforesaid meeting, he said.

He said the Central Water Commission was not accepting the availability of regenerated flows in the sub-basins while assessing the water availability to the projects of Telangana, but the NWDA was relying on such return flows (217 TMC) while assessing the Water Balance between SSP and Inchampalli.

In the Consultation meeting, Chhattisgarh said they were not interested in sharing any waters accrued to it in terms of Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award, he said and added that the NWDA needs to address this issue properly without affecting the downstream requirements of the projects of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.