HYDERABAD: The state irrigation department has started utilising satellite technology for better usage of the irrigation system. The government is of the view that employing new trends in satellite technology will be useful in protecting the irrigation network.After signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Speace Research Organisation (ISRO) last year, the irrigation department found that it had a vast irrigation network with accurate figures.
According to the latest information available through satellite photographs, the total length of all the 8,177 canals in the state is 22,700 km. The canals fall under all projects —major, medium and minor.
Officials recorded the details of major projects, distributary canals, the status of canals and the flow of water and others, by using satellite data. Now, officials are planning to record project-wise and canal-wise crop details too, which was never the practice earlier.
The deatls of canal in Telangana region were not available in the then united state.
In another major advancement, the irrigation department has geo-tagged 43,000 minor irrigation tanks across the state. The details of village-wise water bodies, irrigation facilities available and other irrigation and agriculture related information is also being recorded through satellites, irrigation Minister T Harish Rao has said. “This is a revolution in the irrigation sector. Telangana is the first state in the country to record the data of irrigation network through satellite pictures. The recorded data will be analysed for taking effective measures for the betterment of the agricultural sector,” Rao stated.
With this latest information and satellite photos, the department would know the water availability across the state instantly, he added.
1,800 minor tanks have vanished
Last year, the state signed an MoU with National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO for the entire exercise. Now, the irrigation department has focused on searching around 1,880 minor irrigation tanks which do not exist now. The missing tanks will be identified and if the restoration of tanks is not possible, then the department will resume the lands.