Telangana: Fate of Asifabad’s Kumram Bheem irrigation project left to mercy of nature

The Kumram Bheem irrigation project in Asifabad, meant to irrigate 45,500 acres, continues to rely on polythene covers after cracks developed in its bund. Repair work has been delayed for over a year, leaving farmers dependent on bore wells and streams

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: The fate of Kumram Bheem irrigation project, a lifeline of the district, has been literally left to the mercy of nature for the last two years.

The major irrigation project was constructed across Peddavagu at Ada village in Asifabad mandal, with a storage capacity of 10.393 tmcs at an estimated cost of Rs 748 crore in 2011. About Rs 548 crore has been spent to construct the project and canals so far. The project was created to irrigate 45,500 acres in both Asifabad and Sirpur (T) Assembly constituencies.

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However, large polythene covers have been used to protect the bund of the project, which developed cracks allegedly due to poor quality works and to stop possible breach of the structure for the last two years. Officials are left with no option but to depend on covers to prevent damage to the irrigation project by heavy rains in the monsoon.

The project was desperately in need of the attention of officials, who delayed works, citing a crunch of funds to repair the bund. Irrigation officials finally took up repair of the bund, spending Rs 5 crore in 2024. Collector Venkatesh Dothre, who inspected the project, expressed displeasure over the lethargic progress of the work and instructed the officials to complete the repair works by October 2024.

However, the repair work on the bund is still dragging on, reportedly due to a delay in release of the funds for over a year. The polythene covers are still being used on the bund to avoid the breach of the barrage, since it is predicted that the project would receive copious inflows in this monsoon.

The district saw an average rainfall of 627 mm, as against the normal rainfall of 628 from June 1 to August 8.

Farmers from both Asifabad and Sirpur (T) segments had pinned their hopes on the project. However, they have been relying on bore wells and streams to irrigate crops as the project failed to live up to their expectations. They can easily raise two crops per annum if the water from the project is supplied to agricultural needs, they say.