Orders officials to lift water from Godavari & Krishna to prevent drought in TS
PNS|Hyderabad
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ordered officials to store water in reservoirs by pumping water from projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers including the Kaleshwaram Project to prevent drought in Telangana. Due to a shortage in rainfall, the country is already facing a dry spell.
KCR held a high level meeting on Sunday with officials at the Secretariat on rainfall, availability of water in rivers like Pranahita, water storage in the state’s reservoirs, electricity demand etc. The CM asked officials to take action to prevent shortage of drinking water and for irrigation in the state.
Senior officials explained the project-wise details of water availability to KCR.The Chief Minister asked the officials to give priority to the supply of drinking water and to monitor water levels in the reservoirs under Godavari and Krishna continuously.
The Irrigation and Energy Departments have been asked to coordinate and preserve every drop of water.
KCR said that water coming through Pranahita should be pumped through Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla projects and fill the Mid Manair project. From there, half the water will be pumped to Lower Manair Dam and the remaining half to the SRSP through the revived Flood Canal.
Thus, the CM ordered officials to ensure that the last ayacut of Kaleshwaram till Suryapet and the SRSP ayacut gets irrigation water.
KCR ordered Agriculture officials to prepare “contingency plans” to supply seeds and fertilizers to farmers who have already sowed cotton and other crop seeds and are waiting to go for another round of sowing due to the dry spell.
Officials have been asked to submit a minute-to-minute report every morning to the CMO. Based on reports submitted by the Irrigation, Agriculture, Energy and Panchayat Raj departments regarding the distribution of drinking and irrigation water, the CMO will give orders and alerts to ministers and public representatives from time to time, he said. The CM said that the CMO will resolve every issue by coordinating all wings.
“Now, the value of Kaleshwaram will be known in difficult times to everyone. It is a testing time for the Irrigation department. Irrigation, Agriculture and Energy wings have the responsibility to ensure an adequate supply of drinking and irrigation water by pumping water from Pranahita and Godavari. It is a crucial time for all of us.”
KCR said, “It is not the past Telangana and we should not think like earlier. We built projects to address the water crisis. Abundant water is available for drinking and irrigation needs. We should prove our potential when the state encounters difficult situations.
You have to prove yourself by coordinating all systems and by doing their job effectively. Put all your knowledge and energies. This situation should be taken as a challenge. This one year experience will be useful in future. All officials should take a pledge to supply water and the ENCs must take every step on a war footing,” the Chief Minister told the officials.
KCR directed the Mission Bhagiratha ENC to monitor water reserves in the reservoirs from time to time to meet drinking water needs without any problem.
Meanwhile, the CM told officials that Udaya Samudram and Koil Sagar reservoirs are facing an acute water shortage.
The CM said that the Udaya Samudram and Koil Sagar reservoirs are facing an acute water shortage and asked officials to fill them.
The CM directed irrigation officials to finalise procedures to award the pumping management of irrigation projects to the public sector company GENCO instead of private contractors.
Since there is no possibility of supplying water from Nagarjuna Sagar to Paleru Reservoir due to rain shortage, the CM advised officials to release water from Bayyannavagu to Paleru.
“Currently, there is no flow from Upper Godavari. Water continues to flow to the Medigadda reservoir through Pranahita. Motors should run round the clock to pump one TMC of water from Medigadda to Annaram and Sundilla every day.
The same quantity of water should be moved from Sundialla to Mid Manair. From there, half the water will be diverted to Lower Manair and the other half will be supplied to SRSP through the flood canal.
“Steps will be taken to ensure that irrigation water is supplied from Kaleshwaram Project to Sitaram Thanda, the last ayacut in Suryapet via Tungaturthi,” the Chief Minister said.
KCR asked the Irrigation and Energy departments to coordinate and estimate the electricity needed to pump water.
He also asked farmers to grow crops by following the instructions of Agriculture and Irrigation officials and to use the water judiciously.
