Hyderabad: There will be no problem for those intending to take a holy dip during the 12-day Krishna Pushkaralu starting from August 12 in Guntur and Krishna districts as officials have released water from Nagarjunasagar.
AP engineer-in-chief M. Venkateswara Rao told this newspaper on Monday that about 3,500 cusecs of Krishna water was being released from the dam, which will be increased to 7,000 cusecs by Wednesday. The water will be stored at Pulichinthala dam on the Nalgonda-Guntur border.
“From Pulichintala to Prakasam barrage and further down, we will regulate water release mainly for the purpose of bathing at all the ghats on either side of the river, but we will see water is not wasted,” he said.
He said that starting Thursday, a day ahead of the Pushkaralu, a good amount of water would flow in the river. He said the Pulichin-tala dam had 1.4 tmc ft of water which would be augmented by supplies from Nagarjunasagar.
The releases from Nagarjunasagar to Pulichintala would be useful for the devotees in the bathing ghats in Telangana state like Vadapally, Mattapally and NS Dam Sivalayam areas.
Telangana state irrigation officials have been instructed to rel-ease nearly 2 tmc ft of water daily (about 22,000 cusecs) from Srisailam to Nagarju-nasagar to build up the level. Despite infl-ows into Srisailam, the situation at Nagarjunasagar continues to be critical with water at 506 ft, below the Minimum Draw Down Level of 510 ft against full reservoir level of 590 ft.
There is a steady inflow of about 1.67 lakh cusecs into Srisailam, where the water level touched 862 feet on Tuesday against the full reservoir level of 885 feet. According to a senior irrigation official, water released from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar will be useful for both TS and AP.
Telangana to supply Krishna water to 2 districts
The Telangana state government is bracing up to ensure sufficient water at the bathing ghats in Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts for the Krishna Puskaralu.
While the water is reaching bathing ghats in Mahbubnagar, there is little water in the river in Nalgonda district. Coming to know of the situation, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao reportedly asked irrigation minister T. Harish Rao to speak to collectors of Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts and ensure availability of water. Mr Harish Rao, who held a video conference, said there would be sufficient water in both the districts.
