In a significant development likely to pave way for early completion of the Sammakka Sagar Project being constructed across the Godavari river near Thupakulagudem in Mulugu district, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has given in-principle approval to grant a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the project.
The decision is the outcome of a meeting of Telangana Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy with Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Vishnu Deo Sai at Raipur on Monday. The Minister was accompanied by senior officials of the Irrigation department.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy thanked the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister for his positive response and described the decision as a long-awaited step towards realising the project. He stated that he had submitted a memorandum outlining Telangana’s commitment to take full responsibility for land acquisition, compensation and rehabilitation in Chhattisgarh. He stressed that the NOC was the final interstate requirement before the Central Water Commission could give its approval.
In his PowerPoint presentation before the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy informed that the Sammakka Sagar Barrage was being constructed at Tupakulagudem in Mulugu district. Designed with a storage capacity of 6.7 TMC at Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of +83 metres, it is located on the Godavari, downstream of Indravathi’s confluence with it. He explained that the project was conceived to address the acute water needs of Telangana, especially in the drought-prone and fluoride-affected districts of combined Nalgonda and Warangal.
