Paddy farmers worried over water supply for crops in Karimnagar

Political leaders and farmers associations allege that officials released water from the projects without any planning whenever public representatives sought for water

Karimnagar: Farmers sowing various crops especially paddy under the Kakatiya Canal, are worried over getting adequate water supply for the crop in the coming days. It is essential to supply water to paddy in the next fortnight since the crop is in the final stage.

However, the schedule to release water from the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) will end soon. The release of water to SRSP zone-2 (below Lower Manair Dam) from D-54 to D-94 canal will be continued up to April 2 only while zone-1 (above LMD) D-5 to D-53 will be up to April 9 only. SRSP officials have made announcements in this regard.

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Paddy was sowed in about 7 lakh under SRSP canal across the erstwhile Karimnagar district. Some of the farmers, who sowed the crop late, are worried about the supply of water since the crop is in the final stage. They have to depend on wells or borewells to protect the standing crops. That is not their only worry. Water levels in the SRSP and LMD have also declined drastically. While 17.557 TMC of water is available in SRSP as against its storage capacity of 80.5 TMC, only 5.6 TMC is available in LMD as against its full capacity of 24 TMC.

If more water is released from LMD, it the supply of drinking water to Karimnagar town and Mission Bhagiratha in the summer season will become a major headache for the authorities.

Political leaders and farmers associations allege that officials released water from the projects without any planning whenever public representatives sought for water. Moreover, water is being diverted to agricultural fields by arranging unauthorized sluices to the SRSP canal. As a result, the tailend lands are unable to get water.

Speaking to Telangana Today, a farmer, Rajaiah, of Veenavanka mandal said crops would survive if the supply of water continued for the next fortnight. Otherwise, their investments would go waste.