HYDERABAD: Telangana, smile! Water will soon be gushing into the Krishna and Godavari basins in the State.As Almatti and Narayanpur on Krishna river in Karnataka are full, water is being let out downstream to the Priaydarshini Jurala project in Telangana State. The water is expected to arrive on Tuesday.In Godavari basin, Yellampalli too will receive water, as it will be pumped from Sundilla, which is part of the Kaleshwaram Project, from Tuesday.
Farmers can heave a sigh of relief because as per prediction, Mahabaleshwar, the catchment area of the Krishna, will continue to receive good rains in the coming days too. Thus, the inflows to the projects of Telangana are likely to continue for some more days.
The Mahabaleshwar area in Karnataka received 24.1 cm rainfall in the last 24 hours, ending at 8 am on Monday. Koyna received 14.4 cm, Abumbe received 9.6 cm and Warna received 5.5 cm rainfall in the Krishna basin. The tributaries of Krishna, like Ghataprabbha, were in spate in Karnataka. This augurs well for Telangana.
In the Godavari basin, several areas like Nasik (27 cm), Igatpuri (26 cm), Bijapur (23) and Bastar (13 cm) received heavy rains in the last 24 hours. With heavy rain forecast in the upper parts of Krishna and Godavari, TS is expected to receive a good amount of flood waters in the coming days too.
On Monday, the inflows into the Priaydarshini Jurala project were were recorded as 1,23,000 cusecs. The distance between Jurala and Srisailam is about 179.27 km and if the inflows are heavy in the next few days, water would reach Srisailam early.
Meanwhile, other medium projects like Kaddem and Yellampalli on Godavari have also been receiving good inflows. On an average, the inflow into Kaddem was 10,000 cusecs.
The Krishna River Management Board (KRBM) meeting will be held in Hyderabad on August 6. The KRMB will discuss water sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh during the water year 2019-20. If Srisailam gets good inflows in the next one week then the KRMB may take a decision on sharing the available water between AP and TS for the standing crops.
The KRMB meeting will also discuss the shifting of the KRMB office from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, as was proposed in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. The other topics on the agenda before the KRMB include the implementation of telemetry in phase-2, fund requirements for the same, and preparation of a working manual of the KRMB phase-2, fund requirements for the same, and preparation of a working manual of the KRMB.
Sundilla water to be pumped to Yellampalli
The Sundilla barrage too has been getting water steadily. As against its storage capacity of 8.83 tmcft, it held 5.461 tmcft on Monday morning. The water form Sundialla will be pumped to Yellampalli from Tuesday onwards. With this, the main aim of the first phase of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) will be achieved by the irrigation department.While the good rains expected in the coming days have raised the hopes of people in Telangana, water-sharing talks between Telangana and Andhra pradesh are scheduled to be held at Hyderabad on August 6, at a meeting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRBM)