• The National Perspective Plan (NPP) was prepared by the then Ministry of Irrigation (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in August 1980 for water resources development through inter basin transfer of water, for transferring water from water surplus basins to water-deficit basins.

    • Under the NPP, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component and 14 under Himalayan Component) for preparation of Feasibility Reports (FRs).

Godavari-Cauvery link project 

    • Draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Godavari-Cauvery link project consisting of three links viz; Godavari (Inchampalli/Janampet) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar), Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) – Pennar (Somasila), Pennar (Somasila)-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link projects has been completed by National Water Development Agency (NWDA) in 2019.

    • Since no inter-linking of river (ILR) projects, including the Godavari-Cauvery link project has reached the stage of execution, as such no funds have been allocated for the project.

    • Government taking a consultative approach, a “Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers” has been constituted in September, 2014 for the implementation of ILR programme.  Eighteen meetings of the Special Committee have been held so far.

    • Further, a Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers has been constituted by MoWR, RD & GR (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in April, 2015 and twelve meetings of the Task Force have been held so far.

    • Efforts have been made for building consensus among the concerned States and also setting out road maps for implementation of the projects.

    • The Godavari-Cauvery link project is planned in two phases:

    • Phase-I relates to identifying the surplus waters in Godavari basin without affecting the interests of the co-basin States and transferring these waters upto Cauvery through Godavari-Cauvery link project.

    • Phase-II relates to linking Brahmaputra-Ganga-Subernarekha-Mahanadi-Godavari rivers thus enriching the Phase-I with suitable modifications.

    • The draft DPR of Godavari-Cauvery link has been prepared considering the Phase-I option only.

    • The Government of Tamil Nadu requested that the last leg of the Godavari-Cauvery link project, namely, Pennar-Palar-Cauvery link canal reach may be taken at higher elevation after crossing Palar river by pumping from Dusi Mamandur Tank and terminate at Kattalai barrage instead of Grand Anicut in Phase-I itself.

    • A preliminary draft concept note has been prepared by NWDA on the suggested higher level canal alignment, subject to establishing its techno-economic viability.

    • Further, the Government of Tamil Nadu requested that the Poondi reservoir may be linked with Araniyar reservoir so that 609 tanks with a capacity of 15 TMC can be filled.

    • However, integration of Araniyar reservoir with Poondi reservoir is linked with the firming up of Phase-II of the proposal.

    • The envisaged total diversion under Phase-I is only 247 TMC, out of which, after meeting the enroute requirements in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, only 83 TMC could be planned at Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border.

    • Government of Tamil Nadu has requested for providing 200 TMC of water for meeting their water requirements in the Phase-I of the project itself.

    • However, the possibility of providing additional quantum of water to Tamil Nadu is linked with water to be brought through Phase-II of the project.

Interlinking of Rivers

Interlinking of River (ILR) programme is of national importance and has been taken up on high Priority. Hon’ble Minister for Water Resources, RD & GR is monitoring the progress of ILR from time to time. The mission of this programme is to ensure greater equity in the distribution of water by enhancing the availability of water in drought prone and rain-fed area.

Some other major projects at various stages of planning & development are:

    • Ken – Betwa Link Project

    • Damanganga – Pinjal Link Project

    • Par – Tapi – Narmada Link Project 

    • Mahanadi – Godavari Link Project

    • Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga link. 

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)