KARIMNAGAR: The Irrigation authorities opened technical bids to reclaim the storage capacity of reservoirs by carrying out the desilting work.
The price bids which were supposed to be opened on Friday, were delayed due to their valuation process, said Superintendent of Engineer (SE) Irrigation Circle-2 P Ramesh.
Sources said two agencies desilted the Lower Manair Dam (LMD) in Karimnagar, the Mid Manair Reservoir (MMR) in Rajanna-Sircilla and the Kadam project in Nirmal district.
They added that for years the silt, sand and gravel had gathered in the reservoirs, resulting in a decrease in their storage.
“Once the desiltation work, worth Rs 1,439 crore, is carried out, the capacity of about 7 tmcft water will be freed in the reservoirs,” said P Ramesh.
According to a report from the engineering authorities, there are about 131.15 lakh tonnes of silt in LMD, 247.78 lakh tonnes in MMR and 1,317.85 lakh tonnes in the Kadam project. “The government has decided to remove the silt using the hydro-cyclone method to reclaim the full capacity of the reservoirs,” it stated.