: Over six lakh acres of agriculture lands in Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal districts will get water in kharif, since the Sriramsagar project at Pochampad began to discharge water.
Water in the project touched 1,078.0 ft against its full reservoir level of 1,091.0 ft, and impounding about 47 tmc, against the full capacity of 90 tmc on Thursday. Over 13,000 cusecs are coming into the project and 4,300 cusecs are being discharged through the main Kakatiya flood flow canal and Lakshmi canal. Farmers in Karimnagar and Warangal districts are happy as they are receiving water for paddy transplantation in kharif .
Farmers in the district sow paddy which is usually irrigated with rain water and water from borewells. The sudden rise in paddy farming is making it difficult to find labourers for paddy transplantation. Earlier on Wednesday, Finance Minister Etala Rajender released water from the project into Kakatiya flood flow canal (FFC) for Karimnagar and Warangal districts. About 2,200 cusecs were let out into each canal, while farmers in the district themselves began releasing 100 cusecs of water into the Lakshmi canal on Tuesday. However, it is yet to reach the irrigation tanks. Mr. Rajender, accompanied by Minister for Agriculture P. Srinivas Reddy, Mission Bhagiratha vice-chairman V. Prasanth Reddy, chief whip K. Eswar, Manohar Reddy and Vidyasagar Rao, MLAs from Peddapally and Korutla respectively, a galaxy of engineering and non-engineering authorities and the ruling party cadres, conducted a puja earlier at the SRSP dam.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajender said that water for agriculture from the project was being released after two years. The reservoir right now contained 50 tmc of water , he said and hoped it would get filled in the coming days. There was a possibility to fill the LMD with 25 tmc in coming days provided the SRSP is filled to its brim, he added.
