Good days ahead for Telangana’s farmers as tanks, reservoirs brim with water
Major reservoirs like the Nizam Sagar, Singur, Sriram Sagar, Lower Manair Dam, Sripada Yellampalli project, Jurala, Nagarjuna Sagar and Kaddam projects are brimming, with most of the reservoirs maintaining Full Reservoir Level.
Hyderabad: In signs of good times ahead for farmers in Telangana much before the ‘Yasangi’ season, large and medium irrigation projects and major reservoirs across the State are full to the brim, with the storage level of most major reservoirs being much better than what it was this time last year.
Major reservoirs like the Nizam Sagar, Singur, Sriram Sagar, Lower Manair Dam, Sripada Yellampalli project, Jurala, Nagarjuna Sagar and Kaddam projects are brimming, with most of the reservoirs maintaining Full Reservoir Level (FTL).
According to officials, Nizam Sagar and Sripada Yellampalli projects are maintaining their FRL of 17.80 TMC and 20.17 TMC respectively. Similarly, the Sriram Sagar project is maintaining its FRL of 90.31 TMC this year as against the 89.21 TMC last year during the same period. Jurala’s present storage level stood at 9.42 TMC against an FRL 9.66 TMC. Last year, during the same period, this was 9.12 TMC.
Officials are calling the abundant availability of water a good sign ahead of the next summer season, and are attributing the same to the State government’s flagship programme Mission Kakatiya.
The restoration of 46,600 tanks under the mission has resulted in all large and medium scale projects including ponds and tanks in the State overflowing with water apart from helping improve the groundwater levels in rural Telangana, they say.
According to Officer on Duty (OSD) to the CM for irrigation projects, Sridhar Rao Deshpande, all the water bodies in the State were filled to brims as the State received abundant rain till September and since all the minor irrigation tanks are now inter-linked with major and medium projects, there was no shortage of water throughout the year.
Pointing out that over 10,000 Mission Kakatiya tanks were situated in the command areas of various irrigation projects, he said the State was already not facing water scarcity even during summer.
After 2018-19, over 4,000 new sluices and 1250 check dams were constructed, which has played an important role in storing water in various tanks across the State, he said, adding that Phase-II of construction of check dams would be taken up next year.
After the formation of the state, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao focused on irrigation projects in Telangana and took up the Kaleshwaram project, which was completed on a war footing. Besides this, a number of reservoirs were being constructed, which are connected to ponds and filled with water. On the other hand, huge projects like Sriram Sagar and Nagarjuna Sagar in the State are still full of water due to abundant rains. Reservoirs like Ellampalli, Madhyamaneru, Annapurna, Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar and other reservoirs have also become available and the water storage capacity has increased significantly. There are more than 40 medium projects like Kumram Bheem, Nallavagu, Ramappa, Laknavaram, Sudhavagu, Vattivagu, Nilvai and Kaulas Nala. Their combined water storage capacity was about 65.22 TMC, and currently more than 60 TMC of water was available.
Small scale projects, ponds and ponds were too overflowing with water. Thus there is plenty of water required for cultivation in Yasangi in the State, officials said.
According to officials, before the formation of separate Telangana State during Yasangi more than 20 lakh acres was never cultivated as there was not sufficient water available. But for the last three years, more than 35 lakh acres were being irrigated each year under major and medium projects.
The magic of Mission Kakatiya
• Nizam Sagar maintaining FRL of 17.80 TMC
• Sripada Yellampalli maintaining FRL of 20.17 TMC
• Sriram Sagar maintaining FRL of 90.31 TMC as against 89.21 TMC last year
• Jurala’s present storage level is 9.42 TMC against last year’s 9.12 TMC.
• Combined water levels in more than 40 medium projects is 60 TMC against capacity of 65.22 TMC
• These include Kumram Bheem, Nallavagu, Ramappa, Laknavaram etc
• After 2018-19, over 4,000 new sluices and 1250 check dams constructed in TS
• Phase-II of construction of check dams from next year
