The 48 mcft of water released from the Babli project in Dharmabad taluq of Nanded district in Maharashtra to Sri Ram Sagar Project on Thursday ended up after travelling 30 kilometers at Kandakurthy in the district on Friday.
Since it is a small quantity of water it could not reach SRSP.
As against the minimum of 600 mcft to be released mandatorily on March 1 as per the Supreme Court direction the Maharashtra authorities in the presence of the engineering officials of Central Water Commission and SRSP let out just 48 mcft, according to SRSP Executive Engineer Rama Rao. The EE said that, in fact, there was not much water in the Babli. and the Maharashtra government wanted to use the rest of the water available in it for drinking water purpose in Nanded district. Since the SRSP is located 72 kilometers away down the stream the released water dissipated before reaching it, he said.
Whatever amount of water was released could be useful for the IDC schemes on the Godavari in and around Kandakurthy, he said. “As our catchment area comes under the Babli the Apex Court directed Maharashtra to share the water in it, provided it is above 600 mcft, with Telangana on every March 1,” he explained.
As per the court direction the Babli gates are closed on every October 28 night after being open from July 1.
