AP to plan Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery link

Hyderabad, Oct 06: The Central government has asked the AP to go ahead with Krishna-Pennar (Penna)-Cauvery rivers linking to reduce imbalance in water availability between different regions in the state. The project comprises two stages. River Krishna will be connected with Pennar and following it by linking Pennar with Cauvery. The proposed project is one of the biggest river linking projects in the country. The commissioner of Union Water Ministry has recently directed AP Irrigation Officials to prepare DPR of the project. AP was given the responsibility though the project involves Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Karnataka because the state government completed Krishna-Godavari river linking project in a record time. Centre is planning to divert surplus water in Mahanadi and Godavari rivers basins to South India through the project. As per studies conducted by Centre, 450 tmc ft of water can be diverted from Mahanadi to Godavari and 925 tmc ft water from Godavari to Krishna. Similarly, there are plans to divert 303 tmc ft of water from Pennar river to Cauvery.