JANGAON : Hundreds of acres of paddy and maize crops have withered across mandals in the district due to severe water shortage during the ongoing Rabi season.
Farmers in Gangupahad, Wadlakonda, Devaruppula, Bachannapet and Narmeta mandals reported crop failures as reservoirs critical for irrigation, including Ghanpur and Nawabpet, remain depleted.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the diversion of water from the Nawabpet reservoir to the neighbouring Alair constituency, leaving upper catchment areas in the district parched.
Farmers from villages in Devaruppula mandal, such as Banjara, Dharawath, Chintabai, Pedda, Devunigutta and Potti tandas, revealed that no water has been released from the Ghanpur and Nawabpet reservoirs to their fields this season.
Banoth Dasur Naik, a farmer from Dharawath tanda, said: “I have had to abandon my dried-up crops for cattle fodder.
Despite hopes that the creation of the Jangaon district after Telangana’s formation would resolve water issues, the crisis persists. Summer groundwater levels have been dismal for years, and political disputes over reservoir water releases have left us helpless.”
In Bachannapet and Narmeta mandals, lakes and ponds have reached “dead storage” levels — where water cannot be feasibly extracted — leaving farmers without alternatives.
K Ramulu, a resident of Bachannapet, cultivated paddy and maize on six acres, only to watch his crops perish. “The state government and local public representatives neglected our pleas. We invested lakhs of rupees, but now face total loss,” he lamented.