Pothireddypadu to get water from July 20

ANANTAPUR: In the view of heavy floods and the water level reaching above the permissible level, the state irrigation authorities decided on Monday to release excess water towards Pothireddypadu Head Regulatory system from Srisailam backwaters on July 20.

Irrigation chief engineer Kabeer Basha said 19 tmc-ft of water is likely to be released to meet the needs of Rayalaseema and for the Chennai drinking water project.

SRBC may get 6tmc-ft while Chennai will have 3tmc-ft water.

In addition, water will be released for agriculture via the KC Canal in Nandyal, Kurnool and YSR districts for the kharif season. A total of 1.75 lakh acres of ayacut -- 96619 acres for Nandyal district, 74712 acres in YSR district and 3738 acres in Kurnool – would get water. A decision on this was made during the last irrigation advisory board meeting in Kurnool.

Constant heavy inflows along with rains to the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers saw the Srisailam reservoir recording 867ft as against the previous 885ft water level on Monday.

Inflow was recorded at 3.11 lakh cusecs from upstream projects and canals.

The Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Samithi president Bojja Dasaratharami objected to the release of 31000 cusecs of water for power generation in Nagarjunasagar by Telangana by violating the  minimum water level norm in the Srisailam dam.

"This year, floods were delayed but TS was forcibly using water for power generation while the Rayalaseema region faces injustice due to violation of the Krishna River Tribunal orders," he said.

He criticised the ruling YSRC leaders from Rayalaseema for not reacting against serious injustice to the backward region.