Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government plans to take up the Godavari-Banakacherla project that interlinks the Godavari and Krishna rivers.
The state government is contemplating completing the project in a hybrid system, through private partnership, besides Central and state funds.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu discussed the project with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during his recent Delhi visit.
“We will complete the Detailed Project Report (DPR) in a couple of months and tenders will be called. If funds are provided on time, the project will be completed in three years,” he said in Amaravati on Monday.
Naidu said he was confident that once this project was completed, Rayalaseema would turn into Ratanala Seema (land of diamonds).
Also, water could be supplied to Nellore through the Pennar river and the Prakasam district’s drought could be controlled after the Veligonda project was completed.
Naidu said that North Andhra was facing water scarcity despite experiencing heavy rainfall, while farming was seriously hit in the Rayalaseema, Prakasam, and Nellore districts due to drought.
Expressing concern over more than 3,000 tmcft of Godavari water flowing into the sea every year for the past 50 years, Naidu said it could be saved now as rainwater was being pumped into reservoirs on time.
If rivers were interlinked and reservoirs built wherever necessary, the state would never face any water scarcity, he said.
Naidu also said he felt that the state suffered a lot due to the previous government’s inefficiency and illogical decisions, adding that the destroyed systems are being revived