Fresh Row Erupts Between Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Over Godavari-Banakacherla Project
A fresh river water dispute has rocked the neighbouring Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, with the latter taking steps to implement an ambitious project to link the Godavari river basin with Penna via Krishna. The project is aimed at providing drinking and irrigation water to the drought hit Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhra Pradesh government has already submitted the pre-feasibility report (PFR) on what is now called 'Godavari - Banakacherla project' to the Central Water Commission (CWC). The CWC has asked the state to furnish a detailed project report (DPR).
Union coal minister and Bharatiya Janata Party state president G. Kishan Reddy said that while the Union government has not taken any decision on the PFR submitted by Andhra Pradesh, it has asked for a DPR.
The development has raised alarm in Telangana. The state has urged the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to reject Andhra Pradesh's request to grant terms of reference (ToR) for environmental clearance at the next meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee on river valley projects.
Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy also called an all-party meeting of Members of Parliament on Wednesday (June 18) to seek suggestions on mounting pressure on the Union government to halt the project. He also rushed to New Delhi to meet the Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil to convey the concerns of his government.
Why Telangana is opposing the Godavari-Banakacherla project
Telangana's concerns stem from fears that the project could deprive it of a sizeable amount of water from its share in the Godavari. However, the Andhra Pradesh government, represented by its water resources minister Nimmala Rama Naidu, argued that as the tail-end state of the river, it was entitled to exploit its floodwaters without cap before runoff into the sea. Naidu said that this in no way affected the water allocation of upper riparian states, including Telangana.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had also been advocating that the state would use 105 flood days in a year to divert about 2,000 million cubic feet (2 TMC feet) of water every day, aggregating to about 200 TMC feet annually. He said that interlinking of rivers was the only solution to address the problem of drought in Rayalaseema.
On the other hand, Telangana claimed that the project violated the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which governed all emerging disputes between the sibling states when they were separated in 2014. It also said the project went against the award of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal.
The project aimed to divert water from the Polavaram multipurpose project on the Godavari to the Krishna basin using the canal network of Nargarjunasagar and Srisailam reservoirs situated on the Krishna. The canal water was proposed to be stored in a major reservoir in Bollapalli village of Guntur district in the Krishna basin for onward supply to the head regulator of Banakacherla project in Penna basin's Rayalaseema.
The Godavari-Banakacherla project was conceived by the earlier Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regime led by Naidu in 2018. It was called the "Godavari-Penna" river linking scheme at the time. After the party lost power in 2019, the new Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy government renamed it as the Palnadu Drought Mitigation Project and even invited tenders.
The governments proposed the project to tap maximum surplus water available in the Godavari as projects in the Krishna basin – Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar – were unable meet Rayalaseema's requirements. An estimated 3,000 TMC feet flood water went untapped and flowed into the sea every year. However, the governments failed to execute the project due to frequent inter-state issues.
These issues were so far mainly concerned with the Krishna basin as Telangana was advocating for a higher share of water based on its larger catchment area within the basin. It proposed a share of 70% but, as an interim arrangement, a 66-34 split between Andhra Pradesh (512 TMC ft) and Telangana (299 TMC ft) was agreed upon between the two states post-bifurcation. The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II has been asked to adjudicate the water share afresh.
The two states did not have major issues in the Godavari basin until now, barring the impact of the Polavaram project on villages of Telangana. However, the Godavari-Banakacherla project has opened a new chapter in their strained relationship over river waters, with both sides firm on their respective stands.
Reddy blames Chandrasekhar Rao for current impasse
Reddy, who chaired the all party meeting of MPs, warned Naidu that he should not hope to get clearances for the project because on account of Reddy's considerable clout in the Union government."The Telangana government will complain to every authority in the clearances chain to stall the project. If needed, the government will also approach the Supreme Court," he said.
At a media conference later, Reddy demanded that Naidu give blanket approval to all projects proposed by Telangana in the Godavari basin to utilise its allotted 968 TMC ft. Andhra Pradesh is entitled to 518 TMC ft in the river.
He blamed his predecessor K. Chandrasekhar Rao for the current impasse and released a video clipping of Rao expressing his liberal stand towards diversion of the Godavari water to Rayalaseema. "It was Rao who first proposed the idea". The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) MP V. Ravichandra staged a walkout at the meeting saying the chief minister falsely attributed the Godavari-Banakacherla project to Rao. In fact, Rao only suggested diversion of the Godavari water to the Krishna basin through Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam without naming any specific project.
Reddy also released the minutes of a meeting of the Apex Council on river water disputes between the two states that was attended by Rao and Naidu in the presence of then Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharati on September 21, 2016.
Rao was quoted as telling the meeting that "for the existing, ongoing and proposed projects in both the states of Krishna river, more than 1,000 TMC ft of water is required. On the other hand, more than 3,000 TMC ft is going waste into sea every year in Godavari river." Hence, he emphasised that as water is available, it has to be decided how best it can be utilised properly. He stressed the need for developing understanding between the two states by sitting together and amicably settling the issues.
Reddy also said that he and Naidu's successor, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, met four times to discuss the shifting of the Godavari water to Rayalaseema. He warned that the Godavari-Banakacherla project was not merely for 200 TMC ft but an additional 100 TMC ft. "Pumpsets are getting ready now for 200 TMC ft but they will also be kept in reserve for an additional 100 TMC ft", he remarked.
On the disclosures of Rao and his erstwhile cabinet colleagues, T. Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender, to the judicial commission probing irregularities in Kaleswaram project on Godavari, Reddy said that they lied before the panel about the project having cabinet approval. "There was never an approval for the project in the 96 times that the cabinet headed by Rao met". "Minutes of all cabinet meetings would be submitted to the commission before June 30," he added.
Reddy's claim that Chandrashekhar Rao had agreed to the Godavari-Banakacherla project was rebutted by Harish Rao, irrigation minister in the BRS regime. Harish Rao said that Reddy had selectively quoted one para from the minutes of the Apex Council meeting to mislead the public.
He released a subsequent para of the minutes which read "[Chandrasekhar Rao] raised objection over the Expert Committee constituted by Government of India to address the issues of diversion of water from Godavari to Krishna river between the two States without prior consultation of Telangana".
'Water interests of Telangana will be affected'
In a letter to current irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Harish Rao reminded that any project in the two states had to be taken up with the prior permission of the Godavari or Krishna River Management Boards and the Apex Council as per the State Reorganisation Act. But the Andhra Pradesh government neither took permission nor communicated the decision to Telangana.
He said the water interests of Telangana would be severely affected if Andhra Pradesh diverted 200 TMC ft from the Godavari even before the former exhausted its full share of 968 TMC ft. When the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal was reconstituted to look into water allocations for the states, t was directed to base its evaluation on the depleted flow of the river.
Harish Rao also said that three of Telangana's projects were pending clearance with the Union government. If the Union government cleared Godavari-Banakacherla project ahead of permissions for Telangana's projects, the state's interests would be severely jeopardised.
Uttam Kumar Reddy wrote a letter to Union Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupender Yadav, urging the government to reject the ToR sought by Andhra Pradesh for the project as the state had deviated from the proposal in both the Krishna and Godavari river basins. It enlarged the scope of several components of Polavaram project in violation of the permission granted by water disputes tribunal.
The Union government issued a 'stop work' order due to extensive changes to project proposals but it was kept in abeyance by several extensions, most recently till July 2, 2026. This allowed the work to continue despite objections raised not only by Telangana but also Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
He pointed out that Andhra Pradesh planned to use the so-called flood water for the Godavari-Banakacherla project but the CWC guidelines suggested that flood water was not officially defined, measured or allocated for use by any state on an inter-state river, including the Godavari.
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