Sangareddy: Singur reservoir at risk of breach if water exceeds 517 metres

A Telangana government panel has warned that storing water up to 522 metres in the Singur reservoir could damage the structure. Experts recommended restricting it to 517 metres and called for immediate repairs to prevent a possible breach and downstream disaster

Sangareddy: The Dam Safety Review Panel (DSRP), constituted by the Telangana government, has found that maintaining the water level in the Singur reservoir at 522 metres could pose a risk to the safety of the project. The expert panel has recommended that the irrigation department restrict the water level to 517 metres to prevent any potential breach.

The panel, comprising experts including former Central Water Commission (CWC) members Ashok Kumar Ganju and Yogendar Kumar Sharma, hydrologist and former Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation) P Ramaraju, retired DGM of the Geological Survey of India M Raju, and irrigation experts like Kannaiah Naidu, inspected the project on March 23 this year.

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They observed that the revetment of the earth dam had suffered damage due to the continued maintenance of water levels at 522 metres. The experts advised the government to undertake urgent repairs to the revetment of the earth dam and strictly limit the water storage to 517 metres.

According to the report, the water level was maintained at 517.8 metres until 2017. However, that year, the government issued directions allowing irrigation officials to store water up to 520.50 metres to meet Mission Bhagiratha requirements. The expert team noted that subsequently, the irrigation department raised the level to 522 metres, which contributed to the revetment damage.

The expert committee had previously visited the project in 2016, 2019, and 2024. They recommended immediate repairs to the spillway, earth dam, gallery, and associated components. The team urged the state government to release necessary funds for implementing these repairs at the earliest.

The panel warned that a breach at Singur could have catastrophic consequences, with major towns like Sangareddy, Medak, and several villages located along the Manjeera riverbanks, in addition to downstream structures such as the Manjeera dam, Ghanpur anicut, Nizam Sagar, and several check dams.

The Singur reservoir, constructed in 1999 across the Manjeera river at Singur village in Sangareddy district, has a storage capacity of 29.91 TMCft and irrigates around 40,000 acres in the district. It currently holds about 21 TMCft of water, receiving approximately 2,000 cusecs from upstream.