Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday told the Assembly that his government is working towards intra-linking of rivers within the state, acting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice that such a move would ease national-level interlinking in future.
Addressing members in the House, Naidu said the Prime Minister had suggested that if Andhra Pradesh succeeded in linking its rivers internally, it would pave the way for seamless interlinking at the national level. “When I spoke to the PM, he said intra-river linking, interlinking all the rivers in your (Andhra) state, then finally, it will be easy to link at the national level. We are working with that spirit,” he said.
The Chief Minister asserted that intra-linking from Vamsadhara to Penna would address several water-related challenges in the southern state. He assured the House that the government was committed to linking all rivers in Andhra Pradesh and even pledged to offer ‘jala harati’ to Telugu Talli upon achieving the goal.
Highlighting the importance of irrigation, the TDP supremo said Rs 68,000 crore was spent on the sector during the 2014–2019 TDP regime, and another Rs 20,000 crore has been allocated so far under the present NDA government.
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Naidu invoked the legacy of British engineer Sir Arthur Cotton, noting that people in the Godavari districts continue to revere him for constructing a barrage that irrigated vast tracts of land. He claimed that “all irrigation projects” in the state were initiated during NDA governments and not under Congress rule.
He announced that water would be supplied through the first phase of the Veligonda Project by July and accused the previous YSRCP government of neglecting irrigation works in North Andhra, estimating their completion cost at Rs 2,000 crore.
Reiterating his commitment to complete the Polavaram Project before the 2027 Pushkaralu, Naidu said nearly 800 TMC of water is currently available across projects with a total capacity exceeding 1,300 TMC, about 60 per cent of storage.
Cautioning that rainfall forecasts are not encouraging, he said water would be released from May 15 to enable early sowing. Without naming Telangana directly, he maintained that no one would suffer losses due to Andhra’s Polavaram and Nallamala Sagar projects, asserting that both Telugu states would benefit.
“There is no bigger development than providing tap water,” Naidu said, vowing to ensure water supply to every acre, meet drinking water needs and cater to industry requirements.
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