Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who had formally released the waters of river Godavari in to river Krishna at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijaywada on Wednesday marking the interlinking of the two major rivers of the State, said that this should serve as a model and inspiration for the entire country.
"Imagine the benefits country will get if Ganga and Kaveri rivers were interlinked", he said recalling the initiatives the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaee had taken for the inter linking of rivers throughout the country. He said Andhra Pradesh was showing the way forward to the country.
Addressing media at Hyderabad on Thursday Naidu said that after the completion of Pattiseema project, his Government will start supplying more water to Rayalaseema region. He was countering the allegation of the opposition YSR Congress Party that Naidu was neglecting the drought prone Rayalaseema reSrinagar: Congress on Thursday said Government's lack of a policy towards Pakistan is the reason for continued shelling on borders aaarders aads Pakistan is the reason for continued shelling on
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borders aam Right Bank Canal to bring it to Velgaleru reservoir and from there it reach the river Krishna near Vijayawada in Krishna district. This has the potential to bring 140 tmc ft additional water to the Krishna delta which was facing a grim water crisis due to the failure of monsoon this year.
While 80 tmc ft of water will be pumped from Godavari at Pattiseema project, another 40 tmc ft will join the canal through seasonal rains, the officials say.
Pattiseema lift scheme is a make shift arrangement till the Polavaram project on Godavari was linked when this canal will be directly linked to the Polavaram and water will be supplied directly from the main dam.
While Naidu was naturally jubilant over the success of this experiment at the very first step even before the Pattiseema project was completed, it was wrong to describe the project as first ever linking of major rivers in Andhra Pradesh as such interlinking has taken place in the state thrice over the last 160 years starting with the British rule.
Significantly Andhra Pradesh is the first state in southern India where all the major rivers were now interlinked. First interlinking of two rivers in the state had taken place 160 years ago during the British rule when the Krishna and Godavari river canals at Eluru were linked at Malkapuram village to create Kakinada-Pondcherry Buckingham canal for navigational purpose. These canals were also connected to Tammileru rivulet before it joins the famous Kolleru, the biggest fresh water lake in Asia.
30 years of that first interlinking Tungabhadra and Pennar rivers were interlinked through Kadapa-Kurnool canal.
later in 1980s and 90s Telugu Ganga project linked Krishna with Pennar. The project was launched by NTR government to provide Krishna water to Chennai to meet the drinking needs. On the way to Chennai Pennar also links the canal known as Telugu Ganga.