The Andhra Pradesh’s proposed Polavaram Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP) to transfer Godavari flood waters to Rayalseema region through massively power consuming multi stage lift irrigation projects has all the signs like the ill-fated and controversial Kaleshwaram project of neighbouring Telangana.
Like Kaleshwaram, it is also hugely expensive. Like Kaleshwaram, it is also based on using Godavari waters. And like in case of Kaleshwaram, the ruling party of AP is in tearing hurry to push the project even before basic studies are done. In case of Kaleshwaram, Central Water Commission engineers were singing praise for the project before the project’s central piece, the Medigadda barrage collapsed on Oct 21, 2023.
Is there surplus water at Polavaram? Strangely, in case of PBLP, centre seems to have promised to fund 50% of the cost of the project even before project’s prefeasibility report is approved and before the project gets any of its statutory approvals. Will PBLP face the same fate as that of Kaleshwaram?
The Central Water Commission’s 2018 report, stating no surplus water at Polavaram at 75% dependability, contradicted Andhra Pradesh’s floodwater diversion claims.
MoEF’s EAC-RVP rejects TORC to PBLP Union Government’s MoEF’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) meeting on River Valley Projects (RVP) held on June 17 2025 rejected the application of PBLP for clearance of Terms of Reference for doing Environment Impact Assessment. The committee has asked AP to first get clearance from the Central Water Commission (CWC) including from inter-state aspects. The minutes note:
“Accordingly, the Committee recommended that the PP should comprehensively assess the availability of floodwaters in consultation with the Central Water Commission (CWC).
Furthermore, the EAC noted that several representations have been received via email, alleging that the proposed scheme may be in violation of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal Award, 1980. In view of this, it is imperative that the PP should approach Central Water Commission (CWC) for examining the inter-state issues and granting necessary clearance/permission before submitting the proposal for framing the TOR for conducting EIA study. The EAC decided to return the proposal on the above lines.”
What is PBLP? The Andhra government plans to partly use Godavari flood water, proposed the river link from the Polavaram dam in north central Andhra to Banakacherla in Pennar basin in the Rayalaseema region using Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar canals. The PBLP includes building a 416 km network of open canals, pipelines and lifts to draw 200 TMC (2 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet) per day for about 100 flood days) of flood water at two TMC per day during the Godavari flood season. It is estimated to cost at least Rs 82,000 crore. The project is envisaged in three segments. First, to draw the Godavari flood water to the Prakasam Barrage on River Krishna at Vijayawada. The second stage involves pumping the water up with six lifts to the proposed major Bollapalli reservoir in the Palnadu/ Guntur district.
The first step would be to enhance the Polavaram Right Main Canal’s capacity from 17,500 cusecs to 38,000 cusecs to allow the transfer of Godavari water to Krishna. Then, the capacity of Thatipudi Lift Irrigation Scheme’s canal will be increased from 1,400 cusecs to 10,000 cusecs. A reservoir will then be constructed at Bollapalli in Guntur district, from where water will be lifted at a rate of 28,000 cusecs for transferring to the Banakacherla reservoir. Lift stations will be established at Harischandrapuram, Lingapuram, Vyyandana, Gangireddypalem, and Nakirekallu to pump water to the Bollapalli reservoir. The water will then be diverted to the Veligonda reservoir and Banakacherla reservoir via a tunnel passing through the Nallamala forest.
Bollapalli, located amid hills, serves as a natural reservoir for 173 TMC gross water storage when the necessary structures are built there. The final segment involves transferring the water from Bollapalli to Banakacherla (Kurnool district), with three lift stations pumping up the water into two tunnels passing through the thick forested Nallamala Tiger Reserve. The power consumption figures for lifting the water in the last two segments are mind boggling 2,379 MW and 1,413 MW respectively. The Detailed Project Report of GBLP is in the works.
Existing already at Banakacherla is a three-way cross regulator complex, feeding the backwater of Krishna river drawn through the Pothireddypadu head regulator at the Srisailam reservoir into the Telugu Ganga canal (supplying drinking water to Chennai), the Srisailam Right Bank Canal, and the Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal. The additional water brought by GBLP will allow to bring 7.5 lakh acre under irrigation in the Rayalaseema region, while also ensuring drinking water.
Agriculture economist A Bhavani Prasad has warned that the PBLP threatens Vijayawada with flooding, as the Prakasam Barrage’s capacity is inadequate for the proposed water transfer. He emphasised that floodwater diversion requires a separate mechanism, not the existing canal system, to avoid disastrous consequences.
The project is important politically too for Naidu, as it could enhance the Naidu’s TDP’s image in Rayalaseema, especially Kurnool and Kadapa regions which are a stronghold of Naidu’s AP rival YSRCP.
On Polavaram project, the Union government’s MoEF issued a ‘stop work’ order due to project violations but it has been 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.
Telangana opposes AP’s Godavari Banakacherla Project The Chandrababu Naidu led Andhra government has proposed the PBLP, also called Godavari-Banakacherla link project (GBLP), but Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has said it is “against natural justice, interests, and water rights of people of Telangana”. Telangana CM has asked the Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil to reject the Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) of GBLP, submitted by AP. Patil is likely to call a meeting of the two Chief Ministers.
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. Telangana opposition party BRS leader T Harish Rao 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.
It is surprising that even as interstate disputes persist and the GBLP has none of the required statutory clearances, the centre has decided to consider GBLP as a national project and provide 50% funding for the project. That is a likely reason why the BJP leaders in Telangana are silent on the project even as Congress and BRS oppose the AP project. On June 19, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy conveyed to Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil that the project should not be cleared.
Reddy also had demands for Telangana from Patil: Issue a no objection certificate allowing Telangana to utilise 1,500 tmc of water-1,000 tmc from the Godavari and 500 tmc from the Krishna rivers-with Union govt approval; grant clearances and allocate water for Telangana’s priority projects, including Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, Sammakka-Sarakka barrage and Tummidihatti project.
According to the 2014 AP Reorganisation Act, Telangana says, any new project must first be discussed and approved by the Godavari River Management Board and the Central Water Commission. Telangana’s Irrigation Minister 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. 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.
Telangana raises concerns about Inchampally Nagarjunsagar Link ProjectThe proposed Inchampally Nagarjunsagar Link Project (INLP) proposes to transfer 148 TMC water from Godavari to Krishna river as part of the further transfer to Pennar and Cauvery. However, Telangana has raised concerns about the large scale submergence & displacement risks, water rights, cost sharing and environmental impacts of the project. It has proposed shifting the intake point upstream of Inchampalli to avoid conflict with the Sammakka–Sarakka barrage and reduce land acquisition needs. In absence of basic details, it is not clear if Andhra’s PBLP is affecting the viability of the INLP, but that is likely to be the case. Under the circumstances, Centre’s hurry to promise funds for PBLP is surprising.
In Conclusion The Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh seem to be fond of massively costly large scale irrigation projects. In recent decades, Polavaram to come up firs in the horizon. This expensive project that started twenty years ago is nowhere near completion and has seen several and even now ongoing disputes, violations, massive displacement, deforestation and also corruption charges. Telangana’s Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram project was next in line, the full details of various aspects of this project are still unravelling. And now we have another massively expensive proposal. There is clearly a political economy of expensive large scale irrigation projects that is at play here.
SANDRP
SANDRP 