Dry spell: Telangana CM orders stockpiling of water

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has ordered the officials concerned to initiate measures on a war footing to stockpile water in the reservoirs by lifting from the projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers to prevent drought conditions in the state.

With the state witnessing dry spell due to deficit rainfall, CM KCR on Sunday held a high level meeting with officials on rainfall, availability of water in the rivers like Pranahita, water storage in reservoirs and electricity demand. He wanted the officials to take action to prevent shortage of drinking water and irrigation needs in the state.

Senior officials of the respective departments explained the project wise details of water availability to CM KCR.

The Chief Minister advised the officials to give priority to the supply of drinking water and to continuously monitor water reserves in the reservoirs under the Godavari and Krishna. The Irrigation Department and Energy Departments have been asked to work in coordination and preserve every drop of water for future needs.

CM KCR said that water reaching through Pranahita should be lifted through Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla projects and fill the Mid Manair. From there, half of the water will be lifted to lower Manair Dam and the remaining half to the SRSP through the revived Flood Canal. This will ensure that the last ayacut of Kaleshwaram till Suryapet and the SRSP ayacut get irrigation water.

CM KCR ordered the agriculture department officials to prepare a contingency plan to supply seeds and fertilizers to the farmers who already sowed cotton and other crop seeds and were waiting to go for another round of sowing activity due to dry spell.

The officials have been asked to submit a minute to minute report every morning to the CMO. Based on the reports submitted by Irrigation, Agriculture, Energy and Panchayat Raj Departments regarding the distribution of drinking water and irrigation water, the CM's office will give orders and alerts to the ministers and public representatives of the respective areas from time to time. The CM said that the CMO will resolve every issue by coordinating all wings.

“Now, the value of Kaleshwaram will be known in difficult times to everyone. It is the testing time for the Irrigation department. Irrigation, Agriculture and Energy wings have the responsibility to ensure adequate supply of drinking and irrigation water by lifting water from Pranahita and Godavari. It is a crucial time for all of us,” he said.

“It is not the past Telangana and we should not think like earlier. We built projects to address the water crisis. Abundant water is available for drinking and irrigation needs. We should prove our potentiality when the state encounters difficult situations,” he added.