Mysuru: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about inter-linking of rivers in the country yesterday, saying it can help address the issue of imbalance between areas having excess water and those facing scarcity of the resource, Dr. K.M. Jayaramaiah, non-official Member of Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority, has lauded the views expressed by Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari that the excess water of Godavari river should be made to flow into Cauvery river instead of allowing it to flow into the sea.

In a letter to Nitin Gadkari, Dr. Jayaramaiah has stated that the Central Government had planned the Peninsula River Development Project in 2015. According to this project, excess water of 150 TMC feet of Mahanadi and Godavari rivers would have to flow into Cauvery river if the project had started in 2015 itself. If this had happened then the century-old Karnataka-Tamil Nadu Cauvery water dispute would have ended.

He has urged the Centre to implement the Peninsular River Development Project at the earliest and resolve the Cauvery water dispute between TN and Karnataka at the earliest.

He has also marked copies of his letter to AICC President Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and MP R. Dhruvanarayan.