Store heavy inflows in reservoirs for future needs: CM to officials

Hyderabad: In the light of copious inflows in irrigation projects and reservoirs due to heavy rains in the State, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy directed the Irrigation department officials to take necessary measures to store the heavy inflows in the reservoirs for future needs.

The CM and Irrigation Minister inquired with the officials about the discharge of flood water from the projects. The Irrigation authorities have been asked to store water in the ponds, reservoirs and other water bodies in the limits of the projects. Water levels in the Sripada Yellampally Project in Peddapalli district reached nearly full installed capacity due to heavy inflows from the catchment areas. The gates of Yellampally project have been lifted and released water into river Godavari. The officials have been asked to lift flood water not less than one TMC per day from Yellampally. The Chief Minister suggested to lift water from Nandi and Gayatri pump houses and fill the reservoirs. Water will also be lifted to Mid Manair and Lower Manair Dam as well as Ranganayak Sagar and Mallanna Sagar reservoirs. While the Yellampally project capacity is 20 TMC, the present storage capacity has already reached 18.45 TMC.

In view of increasing inflows in the Kadem project, flood water will be lifted to Mid Manair from the Gayatri pump. The capacity of Mid Manair is 27 TMC and current water level is 15 TMC. The officials were directed to lift more than 14,000 cusecs of water from Mid Manair and release the same in lower Manair dam. Another 6,400 cusecs of water will be released to Ranganayak Sagar reservoir from Annapurna reservoir. Water will be pumped from Ranganayak Sagar to Mallanna Sagar and Kondapochamma Sagar to fill the two reservoirs. From there, water will be lifted to Singur project and Nizam Sagar dam.

The capacity of Annapurna and Ranganayak Sagar are 7.53 TMC each and the Mallanna Sagar capacity is 50 TMC. Currently, 11.43 TMC of water is stored. While the Konda Pochamma Sagar capacity is 15 TMC and the present water level is 7.91 TMC of water.

The Chief Minister said that, as per the Central Water Commission (CWC) guidelines, abundant water can be stored in Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir. The officials are directed to store a maximum of 18 TMC to 20 TMC of water in Mallanna Sagar and 10 TMC in Kondapochamma Sagar. The CM cautioned the officials to take required precautions in the water storage. Revanth Reddy asked the Irrigation officials to lift water to Nizam Sagar from Kondapochamma Sagar through Haldi Vagu.