Telangana: Kharif holiday likely under NSP left canal ayacut

The scope for the Kharif crop under the Nagarajuna Sagar Left Canal has been ruled out entirely and the same is likely to be the case with the Rabi crop

Hyderabad: The scope for the Kharif crop under the Nagarajuna Sagar Left Canal has been ruled out entirely and the same is likely to be the case with the Rabi crop, top Irrigation officials confirmed here on Thursday.

It is more or less a Kharif holiday for the NSP left canal ayacut, they maintained, adding that the reservoir levels were close to the minimum draw down level (MDDL). In the absence of adequate inflows, water could not be given for irrigation under any circumstances.

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If water was not available for Kharif crop, it would be ruled out for the Rabi crop as well, unless widespread rainfall was received in the Krishna catchment, especially in Karnataka in either October or November making up for the deficiency all through the monsoon period.

The Kharif farmers in the ayacut have been sufficiently cautioned on the precarious situation so far as the Krishna basin project levels were concerned. The project level on Thursday had come down to 525 feet as against the MDDL of 510 feet.

The project has been left with only some 21 tmc of water that can be drawn and it has to be utilized exclusively for drinking water purposes. The Paleru reservoir was filled to meet the drinking water needs following a drop in the water levels recently. The drinking water needs of Hyderabad city would be top priority.

As the department was left with no scope for giving irrigation water to the NSP ayacut in the districts of Suryapet and Nalgonda, Godavari water was released to the Sriramsagar phase II ayacut in Suryapet district, according to Chief Engineer Ramesh Babu.

Some 2.2 lakh acre ayacut of the SRSP Phase II in Suryapet district was being extended irrigation support. Water is being given through the Bayyannavagu to a large extent of the paddy area in the district. The problem is only with the NSP ayacut in the two districts.

In the meanwhile, farmers are switching over to groundwater irrigation in a big way. The demand for new agriculture services is high as many farmers were sinking new bore wells to save the standing crops and to raise new ones.