ANANTAPUR: Normally rains fill irrigation tanks, so the water needs, be it for drinking water or irrigation, are taken care of. However, heavy rains that lashed the Anantapur district have only compounded the problems of people in the drought-prone district. The reason: as many as 35 irrigation tanks suffered breaches and 10 suffered leakages.
Anantapur has received more than 200 per cent surplus rainfall. Despite the heavy rainfall, one-third of the water bodies in the district are empty for various reasons, with breaches being one of them. There are 1,468 irrigation tanks in the district with a total storage capacity of 27.028 TMC. Despite getting 200 per cent surplus rainfall, there is no water in 295 tanks in the drought-prone district.
As the required land needed for the reservoir under Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR) project is yet to be acquired, only five of the 10 TMC proposed storage could be attained. The surplus water had to be released downstream.
Heavy rains saw more breaches to Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanti (HNSS) canals, resulting in large wastage of water and several tanks connected to it also suffered the same fate. According to official sources, HNSS main canal suffered breaches at 66 places including Madakasira branch canals at 20 places, Punganur branch canal 13 places. Mostly these breaches took place in Kadiri and Puttaparthi.
“The recent heavy rains were unprecedented and an unexpected loss occurred to the Irrigation department. However, we have taken up repairs for all those tanks and canals where breaches occurred. Efforts are on to strengthen tanks and canals,” Sudhakr, SE, Minor Irrigation (Anantpaur), said.
