Nizamsagar Project Faces Low Water Levels, Farmers Anxious

Nizamabad: The century-old Nizamsagar project is unable to get inflows from upstream areas, leaving farmers distressed. They are worried over cultivation of crops in Vana Kalam (kharif) and Yasangi (rabi) seasons.

At present, the project has 1,389.64 feet level against its full reservoir level of 1,405 ft. Of 17.802 tmc of gross storage capacity, the project has merely 3.903 tmc of water now.

There was no good rainfall in the upstream areas of river Manjeera in undivided Medak district and in Karnataka. Usually, water is released from Singur project in Sangareddy district to Nizamsagar project. Singur was built as a balancing reservoir of Nizamsagar. At present, Singur has 14.803 tmc of water against its gross storage capacity of 29.917 tmc.

Under Nizamsagar ayacut limits, paddy is cultivated in 1.20 lakh acres in Kamareddy and Nizamabad districts and to save the standing crops, water has been released from Nizamsagar project in a phased manner. As a result, water level in the project has decreased. Farmers are hopeful that rains would fill the Nizamsagar project by the end of August.

On the other hand, the state government is also planning to release water from Mallannasagar to Nizamsagar to irrigate crops. Congress MLAs Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, P.Sudarshan Reddy, T.Laxmikanth Rao urged Chief Minister A.Revanth Reddy to release water from Mallannasagar to Nizamsagar.