Meagre inflows into minor irrigation tanks leaves farmers worried in erstwhile Medak

The poor inflows into the minor irrigation tanks will largely impact the Yasangi cultivation this year as the groundwater table is expected to go down further.

Sangareddy: Though three months of the southwest monsoon are almost over, minor irrigation tanks in the erstwhile Medak district have received only meagre inflows, leaving the farmers worried.

The poor inflows into the minor irrigation tanks will largely impact the Yasangi cultivation this year as the groundwater table is expected to go down further. The area under cultivation already declined across the district owing to poor and untimely rains. Lack of water in the reservoirs also impacted the paddy cultivation in Siddipet and Sangareddy districts largely.

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Out of 1,769 minor irrigation tanks in Sangareddy, only seven tanks became surplus while 1,560 tanks got less than 50 per cent of inflows. Singur, the only major irrigation project in the district, had just 16 TMCft of water against its full storage capacity of 29.91 TMCft. The irrigation officials were not releasing water into canals owing to insufficient inflows into the project during the season. The Nallavagu project, the only medium irrigation project in the district, hasn’t been filled to the brim until now. The irrigation officials used to release water from Singur to minor irrigation tanks across Andole constituency every year, but they could not release the water this year.

Out of 2,694 minor irrigation tanks in Medak district, only 79 tanks became surplus this monsoon season while nearly 2,000 tanks got less than 50 per cent of water. Little over 600 tanks got more than 50 per cent water. The Ghanpur Anicut and Haldivagu projects, the two medium irrigation projects, became surplus as their catchment area received copious rains. In Siddipet district, just 123 tanks became surplus out of 2,271 tanks, while 1,564 tanks got less than 50 per cent of the water.

The major reservoirs in the district had meagre water storage since the Congress government had delayed the pumping of water into the four reservoirs built in the district as part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). Mallanna Sagar had 10.05 TMCft of water against its full storage capacity of 50 TMCft while Kondapochamma Sagar had 6.64 TMCft against its full storage capacity of 15TMCft. Ranganayaka Sagar had 2.45 TMCft against its full storage capacity of 3 TMCft while Ananthagiri reservoir had 2.92 TMCft against its full storage capacity of 3.5TMCft. However, the irrigation officials could release the water into tanks and streams except for releasing it into some canals. The area under paddy cultivation came down considerably in Siddipet district for Vanakalam.

Water levels in minor irrigation tanks

Surplus – Below 50% – above 50%

Sangareddy 7 – 1,560 – 202

Siddipet 123 – 1,564 – 584

Medak 79 – 1,991 – 624