Vijayawada: Deficit in rainfall may affect the Rabi season. There is a 24 per cent deficit in rainfall and serious impact is likely on Krishna and Penna deltas. The reduced groundwater levels in coastal Andhra as also the lack of assured water supply for projects is worrying farmers.
The state received 69.4 per cent excess rainfall during June,19.5 per cent deficit rainfall during July, 44.2 per cent deficit rainfall in August, 9.9 per cent excess rainfall during September and 75.8 per cent deficit rainfall during October plus 86.8 per cent deficit rainfall till date in November.
The state received 580 mm rainfall against 726.88 mm average rainfall. Thirtyfive mandals received excess rainfall, 240 mandals average rainfall, 326 mandals deficit rainfall and 69 mandals severe deficit in rainfall registering a total 24.4 mm deficit rainfall in the state.
At present, 95 tmc of water is available in 72 reservoirs and the water level stands at 875 ft at Srisailam and 535 ft at Nagarjunasagar. An additional 14.87 tmc of water is available at Pulichint-ala. The state governme-nt is able to draw 40 tmc of Godavari water throu-gh Pattiseema, against 2,853 tmc of flood water released into the sea.
Generally, Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) meetings are conducted every year at district level chaired by district collector to decide on the plan of action and allocation of water required for cultivation during the Rabi season. But the government has put these meetings on hold because of the deficit in the rainfall and lack of assured water levels for allocation in cultivation.
For the Godavari delta, the situation is hopeful at present as it has surplus water levels while its present available water level is 2,979.07 TMC and the area cultivated is 9.50 lakh acres. The surplus water of 6,000 cusecs is being released into the sea.
As the Kharif season is coming to an end soon, 7,000 cusecs of water would suffice for Godav-ari delta. The Rabi season is set to start in the coming 15 days in Godavari delta area. The government is taking necessary action to release water for three different crops which require water in varied ratios.
The problem is with the Krishna and Penna deltas. The present water level is a mere 195 tmc at Nagarjunasagar, where there is a possibility of allocating 60 TMCs to Telangana by left canal and 100 TMCs to Andhra Pradesh by right canal. Under the Krishna delta, there are 10 lakh acres of fields for cultivation which requires water for wetting the fields in different ratios in this Rabi season.
Even in Kharif season, due to lack of proper acti-on plan, almost two lakh acres were left barren without crops in Krishna delta. It was the same in Penna delta and the Rabi season has already started. Still, there is no proper action plan by the government to allocate the required water.
Andhra Pradesh Rytanga Samakhya president Yerneni Nagendra Nath said, “It is very necessary for the government to conduct meetings with farmers to discuss what crops must be sown and how much of water should be allocated during this Rabi season as there is the impact of deficit rainfall and low groundwater.”
