All 26 gates of Mid Manair Dam lifted for first time in Telangana

MMD receives inflows of about 9,440 cusecs from Kaleshwaram project; water being released downstream to Lower Manair Dam.
Mid Manair Dam
Mid Manair Dam

RAJANNA SIRCILLA: FOLLOWING the release of water from the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, all 26 radial gates of the Mid Manair Dam (MMD) were lifted in Rajanna Sircilla on Saturday, to release water downstream to the Lower Manair Dam (LMD). Interestingly, the reservoir gates are being lifted for the first time since its construction in April 2018.

The water at the reservoir had reached 15 tmcft, as against its total capacity of 25.873 tmcft. So far, around 9,440 cusec water pumped from Package-8 of the Kaleshwaram project has reached Mid Manair.Speaking to Express, Superintendent Engineer of Mid Manair Reservoir (MMR) M Srikanth Rao said: “Around 10,000 cusec water is being released downstream through 25 gates. Until further orders, the water will continued to flow to LMD.”

By 12 in the noon, the water level at LMD had touched 5.183 tmcft. It has a total capacity of 24.034 tmcft. The water level at LMD has stayed below 8 tmcft for the past three years now, due to the lack of enough inflow from the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). Just a day ago before water was released from MMD, the water level in LMD was at 3,514 tmcft, close to the dead storage level.

This is a far cry from the situation back in 2016, when LMD was brimming. 
The officials had then released water from the dam downstream, for irrigation through the Kakatiya canal. In the wake of Kaleshwaram water reaching LMD for the first time, Karimnagar MLA Gangula Kamalakar performed a jala harathi pooja for goddess Ganga Devi. 

History of Mid Manair Dam

A balancing reservoir, the Mid Manair Dam was initiated as part of SRSP stage-2, for which the foundation stone was laid by former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1991. However, its construction was completed as recently as in April 2018. The water source for the project is the Manair river in Manwada. With a total capacity of 25.873 tmcft, the reservoir is capable to irrigate up to 2 lakh acres. The dam has 25 radial gates.

200 sheep washed away in Kandikatkur

Kandikatkur villagers alleged on Saturday that the irrigation officials had released water from the MMR without alerting them. Around 200 sheep was washed away in the sudden flow of water. Some cattle were also killed. In addition, a sheep grazers who got stuck in the inflow had to be rescued by the police. Farmers lamented that their motors used for irrigating were also submerged in the water. Meanwhile, BJP MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar visited the village and heard their grievances. He subsequently called up the RDO and asked him to come up with an action plan  

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