Karimnagar: Bringing cheer to farmers, irrigation officials on Sunday released water from Lower Manair Dam to its ayacut through Kakatiya canal. SRSP assistant engineers Kalidas and Vamshi switched on the button at the head regulator to release water.
Speaking on the occasion, they said said 500 cusecs of water was being released through Kakatiya canal and this would be increased to 4,000 cusecs in a phased manner. The water release will continue till March 31, following the eight days ‘on’ and seven days ‘off’ system, they said, and urged the farmers to utilise water judiciously and to cultivate ID (Irrigated Dry) crops.
Though water was scheduled to be released from the project from December 15, it was postponed following requests from farmers.
Ministers from the district Eatala Rajender, Koppula Eashwar and Gangula Kamalakar finalised the date for water release at a meeting with SRSP officials held in Hyderabad recently.
Out of 90.131 tmc capacity, 89.212 tmc water is available in SRSP. Meanwhile, 22.665 tmc of water is available in LMD as against its storage capacity of 24.034 tmc. Since adequate water was available in the projects, SRSP officials decided to release water to it ayacut.
A total of 13,33,640 acres are under cultivation under SRSP. While 4,62,920 acres are under cultivation upstream of LMD, the remaining 8,70,720 acres are downstream.
Out of 8,70,720 acres, 5,05,720 acres is being cultivated under stage-I in Karimangar, and Warangal districts. In stage-II, the remaining 3,65,000 acres is being cultivated in Khammam and Nalgonda districts.
Since adequate water is available in SRSP, officials are planning to supply water to tail-end areas too.
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