Anantapur: The name of the famous Hanuman temple at Nemakal has been given to the separate balancing reservoir to serve as a supplementary reservoir to store Tungabhadra HLMC water near Untakal in Anantapur district.
The Nemakal Hanuman temple was consecrated by Vyasaraja, emperor and Rajguru of Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagar Empire. He constructed several Hanuman temples along with irrigation tanks across the region.
The new balancing reservoir will be set up near Untakal village in Bommanhal mandal in the wake of piping and diversion of TB water by Karnataka farmers.
The state government had sanctioned a separate reservoir to store water in the border areas. This helps to meet needs of Anantapur, Kadapa and part of Kurnool district through the high level main canal. I&PR minister Kalava Srinivasulu initiated the additional reservoir.
Anantapur district and also part of Kadapa are dependent on Tungabhadra sources through the high level main canal as more than 1.68 lakh acres of ayacut under the main canal exist, covering about 189.44 kms.
But not even a single balancing reservoir was built to make proper use of Tungabhadra waters in the district so far.
The irrigation department reported that farmers of Anantapur were facing poor supply of water even as the Tungabhadra Board allocated a proper quota every year to AP, Karnataka and also Telangana. While TB water flows for more than 100 kms in Karnataka to reach the AP borders, AP faced a problem of piping, illicit diversion and breach in the canal every year, according to the minister. He hoped that water can be availed according to requirements from the Nemakal Hanuman reservoir. He said that its name recalled the era of the Vijayanagar Empire.
