Declare Godavari-Kaveri river link plan national project: TN to Centre at NITI Aayog meet

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday urged the Centre to declare the Godavari-Kaveri river link initiative as a national project and said if it was done, it would benefit people in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Speaking during the virtual meeting of the NITI Aayog being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Palaniswami noted that Tamil Nadu stood first in the country in coverage under micro-irrigation in 2019-20 and 2020-21, he underlines the rejuvenation of river Kaveri.

He requested Modi for the declaration ”so as to benefit lakhs of people in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.”

”River Kaveri and its tributaries have to be rejuvenated on lines of ‘Namami Gange.’ Government of India is requested to accord sanction and extend financial assistance to Tamil Nadu, at the earliest,” he said.

On health, the CM said the Siddha system of medicine is a proud contribution of Tamil ancestors to the world.

”The international institute of yoga and naturopathy medical sciences is being established in Tamil Nadu. Overall budget to AYUSH at the Central level must necessarily be increased,” he said.

Under the National Perspective Plan, a draft Detailed Project Report of the Godavari-Kaveri link project was completed by the National Water Development Agency and sent to party States in 2019 and the project cost was an estimated Rs 60,361 crore 2018-19 price levels.

As per the draft, about 247 thousand million cubic feet of water can be diverted from the Godavari river to Nagarjunsagar dam and then further south for meeting the demands of Krishna, Pennar, and Kaveri basins, according to the government.