Vijayawada, Jul 6 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today released water into the Polavaram right canal through the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme, interlinking rivers Godavari and Krishna, in West Godavari district. 700 cusecs (cubic foot per second) of water from Godavari was released which will flow into Krishna at the “Pavitra Sangamam” at Ibrahimpatnam near here. This, according to the state government, is the first river interlinking project to be completed in a record one year time. The Chief Minister, who had formally inaugurated the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme in March this year, today switched on 24 pumps at the Pattiseema main pump house and let out water into the Polavaram right canal. In all, the state government hopes to utilise 80 TMC (thousand million cubic) ft of Godavari water by diverting it to river Krishna through the Polavaram right canal instead of letting the water flow waste into the Bay of Bengal. “We have released 700 cusecs today and will increase the discharge depending on the water flow. Many people said the Pattiseema project will end up as a failure but we proved it otherwise,” Naidu said. AP has become the first state to interlink rivers (Godavari and Krishna), he said, adding this would be a boon to farmers in Krishna Delta who were otherwise not getting adequate water from Krishna. Ministers Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, P Pulla Rao, PeetalaSujatha and others were present.
