Nagarjuna Sagar water sufficient only for drinking needs: Komatireddy

Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy urged Nalgonda farmers to avoid paddy and adopt less water-intensive crops amid declining water levels. He said Nagarjuna Sagar reserves were sufficient only for drinking needs and called for greater crop diversification

Nalgonda: Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the current water levels in the Nagarjuna Sagar project were sufficient only for drinking water needs, with no likelihood of fresh inflows from upstream.

Speaking at the District Irrigation Advisory Board meeting here on Saturday, he said even if Nagarjuna Sagar filled up, there would be little scope to fill local irrigation tanks, while groundwater levels in borewells were already declining. He directed officials to create awareness among farmers and advise them against cultivating paddy under any circumstances. Farmers should instead opt for less water-intensive crops in view of the El Nino phenomenon, he said.

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The Minister said even if water reached Nagarjuna Sagar from Srisailam, it would not be feasible to release it for irrigation, as the existing reserves were required solely for drinking water needs until June 2027. He urged officials and public representatives to stand by farmers during the difficult period and encourage them to take up less water-intensive crops. He said the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project was also only half-full, a situation he described as unprecedented, and expressed concern over the future water situation in southern Telangana amid the possibility of a Super El Nino.

As part of crop diversification in the district, wet-dry (irrigated dry) crops have been cultivated on 33,000 acres instead of paddy. The target is to expand this to 1.5 lakh acres by encouraging more farmers to adopt such crops.

Officials also sought sanction of 5,000 sprinkler units for the district, stressing the need to promote vegetable and horticultural crops and create awareness about organic farming. The Minister assured them that immediate steps would be taken to approve the request.