Encouraged by continuing flood to Srisailam reservoir both from Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, the Telangana government has decided to release water to the Nagarjunasagar (NS) Left Canal ayacut spread in the erstwhile Nalgonda and Khammam districts from August 22.
A meeting chaired by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao here on Friday and attended by Ministers T. Nageswara Rao and G. Jagadish Reddy and MPs G. Sukhender Reddy and P. Srinivas Reddy and irrigation engineers has also decided to fill minor irrigation tanks linked to AMRP Canal and Low Level Canal for drinking needs.
Water release schedule
District Collectors concerned in consultation with irrigation engineers and Rythu Samanvaya Samithis would decide the schedule of water release to the ayacut.
According to irrigation officials, the NS Left Canal has an ayacut of 6.41 lakh acres in Telangana, including 4.71 lakh acres wet and 1.7 lakh acres irrigated-dry cultivation. The meeting has decided to continue on-and-off water release system to the ayacut followed last year which resulted in considerable savings. Further, the meeting has suggested the farmers in the ayacut not to depend entirely on canal water for cultivation of crops but also utilise groundwater, wherever possible, so that canal water could be saved to cover the entire ayacut without any problem.
KRMB order
Meanwhile, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), through its orders issued on July 27 and August 6, has already allowed Telangana nd Andhra Pradesh to utilise 65 tmc ft of water till August-end for drinking water and irrigation needs. The board has ordered release of 62 tmc ft water from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar from July 28 to August 22 for the purpose since 3 tmc ft water was already availed by the two States in July from the allotted quota of 30 tmc ft and 35 tmc ft., respectively.
While Telangana had indented 12 tmc ft for Left Canal, AP had asked for 7.5 tmc ft for Right Canal, 3.5 tmc ft for Left Canal and 10 tmc ft for Krishna Delta System. The board has already told the two States to avail water from the Left Canal at once to minimise transmission and other losses.
On the other hand, the Friday’s meeting has also decided to give water to over 2.94 lakh acres ayacut under 28 medium irrigation projects in the Godavari and Krishna basins. About 1.92 lakh acres under 21 projects in Godavari basin would be given water for kharif, while 1.02 lakh acres under 7 projects would get water in Krishna basin.
