The Telangana government has shot SOS letter to Andhra Pradesh requesting the latter to maintain minimum draw down level (MDDL) of water in K.L. Rao Sagar Pulichintala project to save standing crops in 30,000 acres being irrigated with the help of eight lift irrigation schemes based on the backwaters of the reservoir.
In a letter written by Telangana Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao to his AP counterpart Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Monday, he reminded that a letter was written earlier this month with copy to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). In response, the KRMB had also addressed letter to AP on Telangana plea about maintaining MDDL in Pulichintala, but to no avail so far.
Mr. Harish Rao explained that a total of 12 lift irrigation schemes were sanctioned by the erstwhile combined AP government in Mellacheruvu and Mattampally mandals of the then undivided Nalgonda district (now in Suryapet district) to benefit at least some villages in lieu of submergence of 17 villages of the district in Pulichintala reservoir.
Officials in the Telangana Irrigation Department stated that four of the lift irrigation schemes were required to be relocated since they have submerged in reservoir as water up to 30 TMC ft was stored in Pulichintala this year as against its full reservoir capacity of 45.77 TMC ft. “The matter of relocating the four schemes is also pending with AP for long”, Mr. Harish Rao noted in his letter.
The other eight lift irrigation schemes located on the foreshores of the reservoir require certain level of water to enable its pumping to the ayacut. “A minimum of about 4 TMC ft water storage is required to enable the 8 lift schemes pump water but on Monday evening (7 pm) water storage in Pulichintala was 1.86 TMC ft with inflows of 5,657 cusecs (from Nagarjunasagar) and outflows of 2,130 cusecs,” the officials stated. “Farmers under the 8 lift schemes are very much distressed and agitated since the standing crops in 30,000 acres facing the danger of crop failure as they need water for another 2 to 3 weeks for reaching harvesting stage,” Mr. Harish Rao said. The farmers were also frustrated and voicing out their agony stating that they had given up lands (under submergence now) for deriving benefit under the lift schemes, he explained.
