Hyderabad: Due to heavy rains in the state, irrigation projects and reservoirs have seen a significant increase in water inflows. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy have instructed the Irrigation Department to take necessary steps to store this excess water for future use.
The Chief Minister and the Irrigation Minister spoke with officials to understand the current situation regarding the discharge of floodwater from these projects. They have asked the authorities to store water in reservoirs, ponds, and other water bodies within the project areas. For example, the Sripada Yellampally Project in Peddapalli district is nearly full, with a current capacity of 18.45 TMC out of 20 TMC, due to heavy inflows from nearby catchment areas.
The gates of the Yellampally project have already been opened to release water into the Godavari River. The officials were specifically instructed to lift no less than one TMC of floodwater per day from Yellampally. The Chief Minister also suggested lifting water from Nandi and Gayatri pump houses to fill other reservoirs. Water will be transferred to Mid Manair, Lower Manair Dam, Ranganayak Sagar, and Mallanna Sagar reservoirs.
With the increasing inflows at the Kadem project, there are plans to lift water to Mid Manair from the Gayatri pump. The Mid Manair reservoir, with a capacity of 27 TMC, currently holds 15 TMC of water. The officials were directed to lift more than 14,000 cusecs of water from Mid Manair and release it into the Lower Manair Dam. Additionally, 6,400 cusecs of water will be released from Annapurna reservoir to Ranganayak Sagar. Water from Ranganayak Sagar will then be pumped to Mallanna Sagar and Kondapochamma Sagar to fill these reservoirs. From there, the water will be lifted to the Singur Project and Nizam Sagar Dam.
Currently, Annapurna and Ranganayak Sagar reservoirs have a capacity of 7.53 TMC each, and the Mallanna Sagar reservoir has a capacity of 50 TMC, with 11.43 TMC of water already stored. The Konda Pochamma Sagar reservoir, with a capacity of 15 TMC, currently holds 7.91 TMC of water.
The Chief Minister emphasized that, according to the Central Water Commission (CWC) guidelines, ample water can be stored in the Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir. He directed officials to store a maximum of 18-20 TMC of water in Mallanna Sagar and 10 TMC in Kondapochamma Sagar. The CM also urged the officials to take all necessary precautions while storing the water and instructed them to lift water to Nizam Sagar from Kondapochamma Sagar via the Haldi Vagu.
