HYDERABAD: The AP and Telangana state governments have heaved a sigh of relief as Srisailam project is on the way to have surplus water, which will enable the respective governments to save standing crops. The gates of Srisailam dam, which is just short of 35 tmc to become surplus, will be lifted on Saturday morning.
Telangana will start releasing water to crops from August 22 to ayacut under Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) left canal. For this, the gates of Srisailam will be lifted on Saturday morning. The water will be released from Srisailam to NSP, and from there to farmers. Under NSP left canal, there is an ayacut of 6.45 lakh acres.
AP irrigation minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao will reach Srisailam for the lifting of the gates. “We are planning to lift around four gates of Srisailam on Saturday morning. Depending upon the flood situation, the number of gates may be increased,” Srisailam chief engineer B Narayana Reddy told Express on Friday.
“We have indications that the Srisailam gates will be opened at any time. If the current flood trend continues, the Srisailam will become surplus in the next two to three days,” NSP chief engineer S Sunil said.
“Prepare the plans for the release of water. The water should be used judiciously applying on and off mode,” irrigation minister T Harish Rao directed the officials here on Friday. He held a review with officials along with ministers Thummala Nageswara Rao and G Jagadish Reddy. MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy were also present.
Harish Rao reviewed the flood flows into Srisailam project and estimated the inflows in the coming days from Almatti and Tungabhadra. “We can reserve some water in Srisailam for the drinking water needs and release the water for irrigation in erstwhile Nalgonda and Khammam districts,” Harish Rao directed the officials.
Harish Rao also directed the officials to fill up all the minor irrigation tanks under NSP low-level canal to meet drink water requirements in villages. The schedule of water release for crops to each village would be decided after duly consulting the engineers and farmers, Harish Rao said. He called upon the farmers not to depend entirely on surface water and also use groundwater for crops. With this, the usage of NSP water would be less, he added. Harish noted that they would provide water to 2.94 lakh acres under 28 medium irrigation projects in the state. Of the total 28 projects, 21 were under Godavari basin (1.92 lakh acres) and seven under Krishna basin (1.02 lakh acres).
Kaleshwaram work hampered
The construction work of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme was hampered due to the continuous rains in the last four days. With heavy rains and floods in Godavari, Harish Rao directed the officials to shift workers and machinery form Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. The revenue, irrigation and police officials were put on high alert at all the project sites of KLIS.
