Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay is scheduled to meet his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, N Chandrababu Naidu, in Vijayawada on Oct 13, highly placed sources told TOI. The tentative agenda includes discussions on interlinking rivers in the southern states, especially the Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery link at Kattalai, and the release of Krishna water to Chennai.The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) under the Union Jal Shakti ministry revised the detailed project report for the interlinking project in 2023 after Tamil Nadu requested that the link canal be taken to a higher contour near Manimukthanadhi, close to the Kattalai barrage. “The plan is to divert 41tmcft of water from the Godavari to the inter-state border. The NWDA has sent a draft memorandum of agreement to the southern states for implementing the interlink, but consensus has not yet been reached,” an official said.In Aug, Vijay wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to expedite consultations among the states. He suggested that the Centre consider setting up a dedicated special-purpose vehicle for the time-bound execution of the project.The scheduled meeting comes against the backdrop of TN’s long-running legal battle with Karnataka over its share of Cauvery water. The state received 46tmcft as of Oct 7, against the stipulated 128tmcft for the period at the inter-state border at Biligundulu. Although the Cauvery Water Management Authority directed Karnataka to release water at the rate of 4,000 cusecs for 15 days from Sept 25, the average inflows have remained unsatisfactory.The release of Krishna water to Chennai is also expected to figure in Vijay’s meeting with Naidu. Under the inter-state agreement, Andhra Pradesh should provide TN with 12tmcft of Krishna water annually at the inter-state border — 8tmcft between July and Oct and 4tmcft during Jan and April. However, TN received only 2.251tmcft until Oct 9 this year.The last meeting between a TN chief minister and Naidu on the issue was in Feb 2017, when then chief minister O Panneerselvam sought the urgent release of Krishna water.
