Today’s Jala Harathi: Godavari water through Polavaram left canal toward North Andhra

On 2 September 2026 Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to perform Jala Harathi and release Godavari water toward North Coastal Andhra through the Polavaram Left Main Canal at Payakaraopeta in Anakapalli district—a live filing for today’s paper and a ceremony distinct from the earlier announcement that water would move from this date.

A day-of briefing said Naidu would arrive at Payakaraopet around 2.20 pm, perform Jala Harathi, switch on the regulator on the canal, release water northward, and later address a public meeting. The formal marking is at Sitarampuram in Payakaraopeta mandal. Officials clarified repeatedly that the release does not mean the main Polavaram dam and headworks are complete; construction there continues, and the State is using existing pump arrangements and completed left-canal stretches to divert river water for regional need.

First-phase benefit figures cited in the live briefings include irrigation for about 2.87 lakh acres across four districts and drinking water for around 5.23 lakh people. The State has spent ₹4,192 crore on Left Main Canal construction. The present release is expected to benefit about 1.50 lakh acres of ayacut in Anakapalli, with plans to use Payakaraopet aqueduct releases to fill the Yeleru canal and 110 tanks in the district. Stabilisation claims listed for linked ayacuts include about 1.48 lakh acres under Pushkara, 80,000 under Yeleru, 12,000 under Pampa, and 46,620 under Tandava, Varaha and Mamidi Gedda systems.

Engineering notes published with the ceremony brief describe Godavari water crossing the Eastern Ghats after the Pampa, Tandava, Varaha and Sarada rivers and the Yeleru canal system, with siphons and aqueducts at key crossings—including a siphon below Yeleru bed level, a Pampa aqueduct on 312 piles sunk to about 30 metres, and a 447-metre Tandava aqueduct with six vents rated for 10,634 cusecs. Separately, Visakhapatnam-region storage planning spoke of up to 27 TMC across local points, with about 5 TMC toward Kanithi Balancing Reservoir at the steel plant and the rest toward tanks including Penjeruvu, Krishnampalem, Kondakarla Ava and Gopalapatnam Ava, plus a Kanithi–Narava pipeline targeted around March 2027.

The political claim is that a promise to bring Godavari water to Anakapalli within the year is being marked today. The engineering claim is more limited: a usable left-canal network and regulator release, not a finished Polavaram dam. Readers should hold both facts at once. This cutting covers the 2 September ceremony window and the numbers attached to it; it does not re-litigate every prior announcement already shipped on the 1 September paper.