HYDERABAD: For the first time after a long gap, projects in the two river basins have good inflows this year. Earlier, if the water was aplenty in Godavari basin projects, the Krishna river basin used to get fewer inflows and vice-versa. “But, this time we have water in the basins of both - Godavari and Krishna,” an elated Irrigation minister T Harish Rao said on Tuesday. While the Krishna river basin projects received good inflows in last 15 days, on Tuesday, SRSP too got a sudden gush of waters.
Despite the inflows from Tungabhadra receding in the last two days, flows from Almatti were continuing to the State, which is a good sign for Srisailam project. At 6 pm Tuesday, Srisailam inflows were 1.15 lakh cusecs. The outflows from Almatti were 1.6 lakh cusecs and officials were expecting more inflows into Srisailam. Since the Almatti outflows were good, the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) is likely to be filled this week. The NSP was just short of 100 tmcft to be completely full.
Though the officials closed Srisailam crest gates, water was being released to NSP through powerhouses. The hydel power generation too has increased. Meanwhile, the SRSP was getting 2.6 lakh cusecs inflows on Tuesday and the officials were expecting much inflows in next few days as there were heavy rains in Maharashtra especially in Balegaon, Babhali and other areas.
Godavari in spate at Bhadrachalam
Godavari river was in full spate at Bhadrachalam on Tuesday. The river was flowing at its second warning level with the water reaching the 48 feet mark. It may be recalled that, only a few days ago, the river was flowing at the 43 feet mark.
The region has seen heavy rainfall in the past few days and it is expected to continue. Officials estimate that the third warning level would be breached on Wednesday morning. To this effect, the district administration has alerted people living in the low lying areas and plans have been made to shift them to a higher ground. On Tuesday, around 30 families have been shifted to rehabilitation centres set up in Bhadrachalam. It is reported that residents of low lying areas of Ashoknagar Colony and Ayyappa colony have been affected the most. The water also reached the Nithya Annadhana Satram located near the temple.
Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao instructed administration to monitor the flood situation on an hourly basis and take steps accordingly. Meanwhile, collector, Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu issued orders to all officials to prepare for the worst scenario by stocking adequate amounts of essential commodities.
‘Rain God blessed TRS rule with bountiful showers’
In the past 24 hours, the storage level at Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) has gone up from 33 tmcft to 55 tmcft. Now, this is a good news for the agriculture sector in TS as inflows from river Godavari has replenished it. Following this sudden development, Irrigation minister T Harish Rao held a meeting with Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Endowments minister A Indra Karan Reddy and decided to release water from SRSP to farmers downstream. This comes at a time when farmers under SRSP were longing for water. “Congress is shedding tears. It played water politics and tried to stop the construction of projects. God blessed TRS and CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s rule with bountiful rains,” he said