Hyderabad, July 2 -- An expert committee of the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has returned the Andhra Pradesh government's proposal on the ambitious Polavaram-Banakacharla Link Project, which aimed at diverting surplus Godavari river water to Pennar basin through the Krishna river.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the environment ministry, which examined the preliminary project report submitted by the Andhra Pradesh government at its meeting on June 17, rejected the proposal for conducting environment impact assessment (EIA). The minutes of the meeting were shared with the government on Monday.

According to the minutes of the meeting, seen by HT, the EAC pointed out that the environmental clea...