AP aims to link Godavari River with Krishna Delta

Hyderabad, Sept 8 (INN): Setting a record as a tech-savvy Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu today held a tele-conference with 14,000 officials, explaining extensively on the linking Godavari River with Krishna Delta.

This river linkage, he said, would be beneficial for drought-proofing Rayalaseema which is a parched zone in the state.

Elaborating on the importance of river-linking, the Chief Minister said that the process of river-linking will help in solving water woes in the state. In this direction, he instructed officials to ensure that every drop of rain water is saved and used productively. 'Divert rain water to borewells that have dried up over the years and recharge groundwater levels,' he said.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to expedite the process of repairing isolated and damaged structures/tanks on war-footing basis. On the other hand, the Chief Minister appreciated officials who swung into action soon after the breach of Adavi Palle.

The government aims to keep the groundwater levels in the state between 3 metres to 8 meters, he added. He directed the officials to make people partners in making the government's flagship Neeru-Chettu programme successful.

In this direction, the Chief Minister suggested the Water Resources Department toanalyse water levels across all the reservoirs, tanks, canals/water bodies in the state and update the data online. 'Fix sensors at all water bodies so that we obtain real-time information on the water available village-wise, mandal-wise and district-wise in the state. This way, we can calculate our usage and manage water effectively,' he added.

The Chief Minister added that the department could also monitor rainfall in each zone and compare the data with the predicted rainfall in that zone. 'This will give us a picture about the rainfall assessment across different zones in the state,' he said, adding that it will also help in flood management.

To improve ground water table, the Chief Minister directed the department to installautomatic Piezometres and update the levels online within two months. He also askedthem to geo-tag borewells, tanks, canals and all water bodies in order to finish theavailability of surface and ground water within two months. 'Water-mapping and waterauditing has to take place regularly,' he added.

On a priority basis, focus on recharging tanks, borewells in mandals that are categorizedunder a) over-exploited, b) Critical and c) semi-critical and bring them on par withwater-sufficient mandals, the Chief Minister said.