Nalgonda: Farmers urged the state government to strengthen the Musi project at Solipet as part of the Musi rejuvenation initiative as it is essential for improving the agricultural productivity and sustainability in the area.
The project was constructed in 1963 across the river at Solipet with the design of a live storage of 4.6 tmc ft to extend irrigation facility to 41,800 acres in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts.
However, the bad state of the project what with cracks and water leakage from the gates posed a threat to it. On October 14, 2020, irrigation officials breached the earth bund at Rudrapuram to save the medium irrigation project. The inflow to the project was recorded as 1.83 lakh cusecs on the day.
A regulatory gate of Musi project was also washed away on October 6, 2019. In September of this year, engineers of the dam were left with no option but to open the crest gates without issuing alarm to the villagers of downstream areas that led to washing away of 20 cattle.
These incidents took place after replacement of 12 crest gates with new ones in 2016. These unprecedented incidents indicated the weak structure of the project triggering concern among farmers.
Belli Veerabardham, a resident of Vangamarthy near the Musi project, said rejuvenation of the river should benefit people living alongside the river. It should not be confined to Hyderabad city alone.
People should benefit from rejuvenation of Musi river in terms of irrigation facility to farmers. The storage capacity of the project also decreased as silt was not removed since its construction, he added.
Sk. Rasheed, a native of Bopparam, said the Musi project at Solipet was the only irrigation project on Msui river. The river later merges with the Krishna river at Wadapally which is literally the entry point of Andhra Pradesh.
The state government should strengthen the Musi project and increase its storage capacity as part of rejuvenation of Musi. People of Telangana had no chance to utilise Musi water after lifting of the gates at Solipet, he reminded.
