TS urges Tungabhadra Board to bring RDS under its control

Ayacut under project denied allocated water, State tells Board

December 27, 2018 11:21 pm | Updated December 28, 2018 08:42 am IST - HYDERABAD

According to officials, the storage capacity of Tungabhadra dam has depleted by over 30 tmc ft during the last 60 years

According to officials, the storage capacity of Tungabhadra dam has depleted by over 30 tmc ft during the last 60 years

Telangana has requested the Tungabhadra Board to take Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS), which has 87,500 acres ayacut in the State, under its purview to supervise the water regulation to beneficiary States as per the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal mandate as it was being denied allocated water all through leaving the ayacut parched.

The issue was raised by Engineer-in-Chief of Telangana C. Muralidhar at the Board meeting held here on Thursday. The meeting chaired by Chairman of the Board D. Ranga Reddy was also attended by representatives of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka besides the Central Water Commission officials.

The ENC of Telangana stated that they have requested Karnataka to complete modernisation of the anicut, including increasing its height and also the main canal which runs for about 43 km in Raichur district before entering Telangana. The meeting was convened to discuss various issues concerning the beneficiary States as also seek the views of AP and Telangana on the proposal of Karnataka to construct a reservoir with 40 tmc ft storage capacity at a location above Tungabhadra dam due to siltation in the latter.

Reduced capacity

According to officials, the storage capacity of Tungabhadra dam has depleted by over 30 tmc ft during the last 60 years, mainly due to deforestation in the catchment areas of Tunga and Bhadra rivers. The dam has storage capacity of about 100 tmc ft now.

On being pointed out by Telangana that it has some issues about RDS anicut such as damaged shutters on some vents and others with AP, the Board Chairman suggested the Chief Engineers of Kurnool (AP) and Mahabubnagar (Telangana) to discuss and resolve the issues by talking to their governments concerned. The Board, according to officials, has also agreed to take RDS system into its purview once the modernisation is completed.

Modernisation

On the other hand, Engineer-in-Chief of AP M. Venkateswara Rao wanted the board to complete modernisation Right Bank High Level Canal (HLC) and Right Bank Low Level Canal (LLC), which serve an ayacut of nearly 5.5 lakh acres in Ballari, Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool districts, so that the intended water reached the tail-end ayacut. On the Karnataka’s proposal to construct an alternative reservoir to overcome the depleted storage capacity of Tungabhadra dam, the representatives (members) of AP and Telangana said they would take it up with their governments.

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