Adilabad:The newly erected Sadarmat barrage, up for inauguration soon, will provide water to a total of 18,000 acres in the Nirmal and Jagtial districts. Its inauguration would be done at the hands of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy this week.
“The barrage would give water to 13,000 acres in Khanapur and Mamada in Nirmal district and 5,000 acres under the Ganganala canal by taking water from River Godavari in the Jagtiyal district,” officials said.
The Sadarmat barrage has been erected with a fund of `650 crore. The water would be released into Godavari from the Sadarmat barrage for onward flow to Jagtial.
No additional ayacut is coming up under the Sadarmat barrage. The ancient Sadarmat Anicut was erected in the Nizam period.
The new barrage is built at Ponkal village in Mamada mandal in Khanapur assembly constituency. It is complete except for the finishing touches. This would stabilise the ayacut under the ancient Sadarmat Anicut, officials said.
The Sadarmat barrage envisages supply of water directly to the agriculture fields by storing water without depending on the SRSP, unlike in the past.
The old Sadarmat ‘Anicut’ came up in the Nizam period across the Godavari at Medampalli panchayat in Khanapur mandal. The new Sadarmat barrage comes up seven kilometres away from the old Anicut. The walls and streams will be well organised to flow the water into Sadarmat Anicut and to reach water to the agriculture fields in the Khanapur area, officials said.
The structure erected during the Nizam rule is considered an engineering marvel. The Central Water Commission has declared the ancient Sadarmat irrigation Anicut a Heritage Irrigation Structure in Khanapur in Nirmal district.
The Sadarmat Anicut was constructed across the river Godavari on the left arm downstream of SRSP near Medampally village in Khanapur in the Nirmal district. The old structure is benefitting the farmers of Khanapur and Kadam mandals.
The plaque available at the Sadarmat site says the irrigation works were restored by the nawab-Ikbal-Ud-Dowlah and Vicar-Ul-Umrah Bahadoor during 1881-82 AD.
According to official sources, Sadarmat Anicut’s maximum flood discharge is 7.76 lakh cusecs and water utilization is 4.129tmc with a total ayacut of 13,000 acres.
Villagers of Ponkal are worried over the Shivalayam, Nagamatha, Ganga Matha and Hanuman temples being submerged in the Sadarmat barrage. They have appealed to chief minister Revanth Reddy to sanction funds for transplant of these temples elsewhere.
Irrigation chief engineer for Adilabad, T Srinivas, said the Sadarmat barrage “is almost complete” and compensation will have to be paid to the 50 acres of land acquired for the barrage. Funds are being released by the government to pay the compensation soon, he said.
