NALGONDA: With El Nino casting a shadow over the remaining monsoon and upstream reservoirs yet to fill, the state government will conduct a Maha Varuna Yagam on Monday at Nagarjunasagar reservoir, seeking adequate rainfall, full reservoirs and healthy flows in the Krishna and Godavari rivers.
The ceremony at the Vijay Vihar premises will involve 108 priests and Vedic scholars and 11 homa kundas, with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy attending the Maha Purnahuti.
The yagam, being conducted under the auspices of the Yadagirigutta Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam, is the first major religious ritual undertaken by the temple board since its recent formation. Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy is supervising the arrangements.
The rituals will begin at 4 am, with the Maha Purnahuti scheduled between 3.20 pm and 3.24 pm. The prayers will seek to overcome the impact of El Nino, ensure adequate rainfall and prevent water scarcity in the coming years, officials said. Ministers and elected representatives are expected to attend.
The ceremony comes at a critical juncture for Telangana’s water position. While some projects are receiving inflows from upstream, the Nagarjunasagar project remains at dead storage as the Srisailam dam has not received the expected inflows.
Experts estimate that Srisailam dam could take another week to fill. The government needs adequate water to meet the irrigation requirements of nearly 22 lakh acres under the Nagarjunasagar project ayacut.
The significance of the ritual is underscored by the reservoir’s present levels. At 9 am on Sunday, Nagarjunasagar held 145.65 tmcft against its gross capacity of 312.045 tmcft, leaving around 166.39 tmcft vacant. Its water level was around 518 feet, against the Full Reservoir Level of 590 feet.
The year-on-year comparison is stark. On August 9, 2025, Nagarjunasagar reservoir held 310.25 tmcft, with its level at 589.40 feet, virtually at FRL. This year, its storage is less than half that level.
Beyond the state
The uncertainty is not confined to rainfall within the state. Telangana’s Krishna and Godavari river systems depend heavily on rainfall and inflows from upstream catchments in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The Krishna river basin covers around 2.59 lakh sq km, with Karnataka accounting for about 44% and Maharashtra 27%. Together, the two states account for more than 70% of the basin. Rainfall over the Western Ghats and the Krishna, Bhima and Tungabhadra catchments therefore influences the water reaching Jurala, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects.
The Godavari basin, spread over around 3.13 lakh sq km, has nearly 49% of its area in Maharashtra. Rainfall over Nashik, Marathwada and other upper and middle catchments eventually contributes to flows into Telangana and its projects, including Sriramsagar and Yellampalli projects.
This makes rainfall forecasts, upstream reservoir levels, catchment saturation and river discharges in Karnataka and Maharashtra crucial to Telangana’s irrigation calculations. Even normal or locally heavy rainfall within Telangana may not be enough if critical upstream catchments receive deficient or erratic rainfall.
The Sunday flood position showed substantial movement in the upper and middle Krishna basin. Almatti dam was receiving 1,05,332 cusecs and releasing 86,155 cusecs, with 113.71 tmcft stored against a capacity of 129.72 tmcft. Narayanapur was receiving around 42,000 cusecs and releasing 18,654 cusecs.
At Jurala, the gateway to Telangana’s Krishna reservoir system, inflows had risen to around 80,000 cusecs and releases stood at 46,543 cusecs. The reservoir held 8.07 tmcft against its 9.66 tmcft capacity. Srisailam had 179.90 tmcft against its 215.807 tmcft capacity, leaving 35.91 tmcft vacant.