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Harish bats for interlinking Mahanadi, Godavari rivers
Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao here on Tuesday suggested to the Centre that the latter should begin river interlinking by connecting Mahanadi and Godavari.
New Delhi: Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao here on Tuesday suggested to the Centre that the latter should begin river interlinking by connecting Mahanadi and Godavari.
He was speaking at the 31st National Water Development Agency meeting chaired by the Union Minister for Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari.
He also suggested to the Centre that Odisha Chief Minister be invited for talks in this regard. To overcome objections and local concerns, the Centre should also simultaneously take up intra-linking of rivers within the States, he felt.
Harish Rao cited the problem in Telangana State and sought intra-linking of Godavari and Krishna rivers at the earliest, so that Godavari waters were not wasted into the sea.
Later speaking to the media, Harish Rao stated that the Centre was getting ready to launch a mega project to interlink the rivers soon and the States were expected to spend 10 per cent of the cost with the remaining being borne by the Centre. He said Telangana State government was particular that Mahanadi-Godavari waters be interlinked first to assess the true yield of the Godavari waters before taking up Godavari-Krishna intra-
linking.
He also appealed to the Union Minister in a separate memorandum on Tuesday to release pending funds for the “Repairs, Renovation and Restoration” works executed on 147 projects and also sought an extension of timeline.
Similarly, he said the State government had sent proposals for 267 tanks more and these should also be sanctioned irrespective of their value. He sought early release of Central Assistance for Rajiv Bhima LI Scheme and Sri Rama Sagar-II under the AIBP scheme. Special Chief Secretary, S K Joshi, accompanied Harish Rao.
Gadkari praised the flagship programmes like Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. The Union Minister was all praise for the lakes revival scheme and safe drinking water scheme being launched by the State government. These two schemes, Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya, started by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao were the programmes to be emulated, Gadkari said.
Harish Rao also raised the delay in according hydrological clearance to Kaleshwaram project for which the State government was diverting 180 tmcft from the allocated 954 tmcgy of surplus water from river Godavari.
He demanded the Centre give the long-pending hydrological clearances immediately without succumbing to the political pressure from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government.
