Hyderabad: Mission Kakatiya, a project undertaken by the state government to restore and rejuvenate tanks and minor irrigation sources in Telangana is now in its third phase. An evaluation done by the ground water department revealed that Mission Kakatiya has helped in increasing ground water levels in the over-exploited basins.
A comparison has been made of the good rainfall years in 2013 and 2016 to assess the impact prior to and after launching Mission Kakatiya. However there had no impact in Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts, which received deficit rainfall.
About 80 tanks in the Over Exploited (OE) basins of the erstwhile districts were selected for the study. The department set up 446 observation wells in these areas. During 2013, a cumulative rainfall of 1000 mm was received through which an average water column of 9.57 metres was built up to October 2013 (during monsoon period) in nine pilot basin areas.
Whereas during 2016, with a good rainfall and Mission Kakatiya activity, the average build-up of the water column was found to be 12.12 metres up to October 2016. It indicated that the additional water column of 2.55 metres was due to the Mission Kakatiya.
The areas with low groundwater levels in the range of 10-12 metres reached a range of 5-10 metres during October 2013 whereas areas with the same range of water level (5-10 metres) in May 2016 reached a water level range of 2-5 metres in October 2016.
Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao said, “Several studies done over the past two years revealed an increase in ground water level by 10 metres on an average in areas where Mission Kakatiya was implemented.” “Prior to Mission Kaka-tiya, the maximum ayacut under tanks was 10.7 lakh acres but in the past two years, it increased to 15 lakh acres,” he said.
Mission Kakatiya
Total tanks identified: 46,500
Yearly target: 9,300 tanks
I Phase tanks identified (2015): 8,165
II Phase tanks identified (2016): 9,113
Works done so far: 11,400 tanks
Target for balance 6,800 tanks: June 2017
III phase (2017) tanks identified: 6,635
Funds sanctioned for I & II phases: Rs 5,660 cr
Bills paid to contractors so far: Rs 2,000 cr
