Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao on Wednesday wrote to Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, urging him to immediately switch on the Kaleshwaram motors and fill the reservoirs. He stated that due to ‘failure’ to fill the reservoirs on time, farmers were unable to cultivate crops and were deeply distressed.

Rao appealed to Reddy to start pumping water from the motors at Package-6 of the project to fill its reservoirs, including Mid Manair, Annapurna, Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar, and Baswapur – to benefit farmers cultivating around five lakh acres.

The letter reads: On one side, there is drought; on the other, reservoirs are running dry, leaving farmers anxious. Farmers waiting for irrigation water for the current rainy-season crops should not be made to wait any longer, water pumping to reservoirs must begin immediately.

Rao noted that in the rainy-season crop cycle, farmers were suffering due to both lack of rainfall and delay in filling reservoirs. Given the recent rains in the upper catchment areas, flood waters will be available, and every drop should be utilised by promptly switching on the Kaleshwaram pumps for farmers’ benefit.

He pointed out that the Sripada Yellampalli Reservoir, a key part of the project, has a full storage capacity of 20 tmcft, with about 14 tmcft currently available. Similarly, the Sriramsagar Project (SRSP) has a full capacity of 80 tmcft with about 40 tmcft now available, and with heavy rains in the upper regions, Godavari floodwaters will also be available.

He also requested that water from Mid Manair be released into the Lower Manair Dam (LMD), which has a capacity of 24 tmcft but currently holds only 7 tmcft, to supply irrigation needs for SRSP Stage 1 and Stage 2 command areas. Recalling that in the last Rabi season, five lakh acres were cultivated under the ayacut (command area) of the upper Kaleshwaram reservoirs, he appealed that all reservoirs under the project be filled in the same way for the current rainy-season crop and the coming Rabi crop. Filling these reservoirs, along with their linked canals, tanks and check dams, would remove farmers’ distress. He stressed that this action should be taken immediately, keeping farmers’ interests above politics.