The diversion of water released from Nizamsagar Project to Sriramsagar Project through Lower Maneru Dam in Karimnagar has turned controversial.
Farmers and Opposition parties objected to the move saying that it had never happened earlier in the history of NSP in the last 88 years.
Their contention is that only people of the erstwhile Nizamabad and Medak districts have an exclusive right over the Manjeera waters stored in Singur balancing reservoir and the NSP.
The move is intended to benefit Sircilla and Siddipet constituencies, which in fact have no right over Singur and NSP, they maintain.
Opposing the decision, farmers staged a dharna on the Manjeera bridge in Birkoor mandal of Kamareddy district on Monday. Similar protests were also held at half a dozen places in both the districts ever since the the government mooted the idea.
As of now, there is no clarity as to how much water would be given to LMD, but the SRSP authorities said that it could be between 10 tmcft to 15 tmcft and this amount of water would be released through the main Kakatiya canal at the rate of 1 tmcft to 1.5 tmcft daily by the month-end. “The discharge from the NSP began yesterday by lifting four crust gates and it already touched the SRSP water. It would take two days to realise the total quantity of water released from the NSP. Over 13,000 cusecs of water is coming to the SRSP dam which at present contains 50.5 tmcft as against its full capacity of 90 tmcft,” says G. Srinivas Reddy, Superintending Engineer.
About 6,000 cusecs is being released in the Kakatiya canal while it is just 100 cusecs in the Laxmi canal. Whereas the release into the Saraswati canal going to Adilabad was stopped, he said, while denying reports of leakages through minors and distributaries into uncut paddy fields in the ayacut under the Kakatiya canal.
The Superintending Engineer, however, added that there could be minor leakages and they would be arrested immediately.
On the other hand, farmers in the ayacut in Balkonda and Mendora said that water is leaking into the paddy fields which are about to be harvested, increasing the burden of costs for cutting.
DCC president Taher Bin Hamdan alleged that the NSP water, through the special GO, was being diverted to LMD and even MMD which he said was against the interests of the district.
Terming it as “injustice” to district farmers, Congress in-charge of Banswada constituency Kasula Balraj warned that his party would intensify the agitation to stop the water diversion.
