Vijayawada: The Srisailam dam reservoir is nearly full, but only 6,000 cusecs of water is being drawn from Pothireddypadu head regulator against the limit of 40,000 cusecs
Water resources authorities said nearly 34,000 cusecs of water was being released by the Telangana state government, and 27,000 cusecs by the AP government for hydel power generation.
This means about 67,000 cusecs is being withdrawn, against inflows of 40,145 cusecs from upstream projects. Officials said weather reports indicated rainfall in catchment areas of Krishna river, they were expecting good inflows into the reservoir up to October 15.
S. Venkata Ramanaiah, Srisailam dam maintenance circle superintending engineer, said, “Though we are getting good inflows and the reservoir is filling to its brim, the requirement of water for cultivation of crops in parts of Rayalaseema is relatively less as a good number of reservoirs and tanks are filled with water following rainfall.”
In Kurnool district, farmers depending upon the Srisailam Right Branch Canal, Pothireddypadu head regulator and Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi project for water for cultivation. Five major crops — cotton, paddy, groundnut, onions and maize — are being raised in about 6.38 lakh hectares.
Kurnool agriculture joint director P. Lalitha Varalakshmi said, “Several crops have reached critical stage of flowering and fruit bearing and require a good quantity of water. As water is available in plenty, we are expecting no trouble in cultivation of crops in the command areas of irrigation projects. In other rain-fed areas, as the district has registered deficit rainfall, we have to see what impact it has on raising crops.”
A section of the farmers is of the opinion that had the state government completed upgradation of the Pothireddypadu head regulator, it could have helped them to draw more water and raise crops in the extended command area.
In Kadapa district, under the KC Canal, farmers raise mostly paddy in about 40,000 hectares. The crop is at the transplantation stage.
In Chittoor district, Telugu Ganga project is helping farmers raise groundnut, paddy and other crops.
In Anantapur district, water from the Gollapalli and Jeedipalli reservoirs is helping farmers raise crops like paddy and horticulture crops like tomato.
Out of the four districts in Rayalaseema, Chittoor received 544.4 mm rainfall against 390.1 mm normal rainfall showing excess rainfall of 39.6 per cent from June 1 to Tuesday. Kadapa received 21.8 per cent excess rain fall, Anantapur recorded normal rainfall at 12.7 per cent while Kurnool received 391.2 mm rain against 407.6 mm, showing a deficit of four per cent.
