Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal Project Committee members, led by chairman Alla Venkata Gopala Krishna Rao, visited Ramachandrapuram 117 regulator to inspect the water releases on Tuesday.
Mr. Rao said there was no correlation in water releases and recordings in the Irrigation Department. The water releases were far below 300 cusecs as claimed by the irrigation officials.
Farmers were agitated over poor release of water and fear that their standing crops would whither away if the government failed to provide requisite water.
The officials were requested to take necessary steps to ensure water was released properly, he said. Mr. Rao said there was an ayacut of 2.36 lakh acre under Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal in Krishna district. The farmers were cultivating chilli, maize, tobacco, pulses, and mango and other ID crops in Mylavaram, Nuzvid, Gannavaram, and Nandigama constituencies. There was a possibility of withering away of crops if the government did not release water up to March 31, he said.
About 220 tmcft water at 517 feet level in Nagarjuna Sagar and 86 tmcft water in Srisailam was there. There were instances that the government released water even when the water level touched 490 feet.
Hence, water should be released to the third zone up to March 31, he said.
