The Centre has proposed the linking of Godavari and Cauvery rivers to facilitate the optimum utilisation of surplus water going waste into the sea, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said here on Sunday.

Inaugurating a flyover along the Salem–Bengaluru National Highway, built by the State Highways department at an outlay of ₹82.27 crore, he said Union Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari had held discussions with him in this regard.

The Chief Minister said he had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who discussed the issue with Mr. Gadkari, leading to the proposal for the Godavari-Cauvery connectivity project.

Under the proposed project, the surplus water would pass through Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before reaching the Mayanur barrage across the Cauvery in Karur district. “This will enable Tamil Nadu [to] get as much as 125 tmc of water, benefitting the farming community immensely,” he said.

The Chief Minister said interlinking of the rivers was necessary, as all rivers that flowed into Tamil Nadu originated from neighbouring States — Karnataka (Cauvery), Kerala (Mullaperiyar) and Andhra Pradesh (Palar). This had forced Tamil Nadu to depend on its neighbours for water.

New canal

The government was proposing to utilise the surplus water in the Mettur dam for farming activities in Salem, Namakkal and Tiruchi by digging a new canal. All the water bodies along the route would be filled with the surplus water, and this would prove to be a boon to farmers of the districts, he said, adding that the project was being finalised.