HANAMKONDA: Authorities of the Irrigation Department have released 500 cusecs of water from the historic Bhadrakali tank on Friday evening on the instructions of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy who is also in-charge minister for Warangal district.
According to officials, the Bhadrakali tank has a capacity of 130 to 150 million cubic feet. The emptying of the lake would take 15 to 20 days and water would be released every day at the rate of 500 cusecs through Kappuwada flood flow channel, Alankar Junction at Kakatiya Colony, Peddamma Gada to Nagaram Tank.
Irrigation Executive Engineer of Division - II of Nakkala Gutta B Sitaram told TNIE that after emptying the tank, it would be desilted and gates would be set up for its protection.
“The state government is going to set up 11 gates around the tank. If there is any finlow of flood water, we only have to lift the gates to release the water,” he said, adding that the process for calling tenders for works valued at Rs 158 crore has been completed and the desilting works would begin soon,” he said.
Sitaram further said, “For the protection of the Bhadrakali tank, we are diverting drainage water by constructing retaining walls to the tank. After desilting, two gates would be set up at Pothananagar and nine at the foreshore site.”
Fishermen unhappy
On learning about the desilting works of the Bhadrakali tank, fishermen staged a protest, demanding a halt to the works. The fishermen stated that about Rs 2 crore worth fish are going to die if the tank is emptied and that they would lose their livelihood.
Learning about the protest, the Fisheries and the Revenue department officials rushed to the spot and promised that they would set up nets before releasing water to save the fish.