Hyderabad: Rains of the last two weeks might have brought relief to the people, especially farmers, but they have had an impact on Mission Kakatiya works. In Adilabad, Khammam, parts of Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Warangal districts, heavy rains have resulted in tanks and lakes being filled to the brim. Not only the lakes where restoration work was undertaken as part of Phase-I and phase-II of Mission Kakatiya have reached surplus level, even those not touched by officials are in same condition.
Of the 22,725 lakes in the five districts in Godavari basin —Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nizamabad —nearly 7,000 lakes (about 33 per cent) are either filled to the brim or the water levels have reached between 75 and 80 per cent of their capacity. Even in some parts of Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts, heavy downpour in the last two weeks resulted in a thousand tanks touching the surplus mark or have water level at 50 to 100 per cent. Irrigation staff monitoring Mission Kakatiya at the ground level said that it would be difficult to carry out any kind of work in the surplus tanks until October.
It is not possible to manoeuvre vehicles or equipment for taking up any restoration work in tanks that are filled to the brim, officials said. Apart from removing silt, the works involve repair of the bund, sluice, canals and feeder channels near the water body. In lakes that are partially filled with water, Mission Kakatiya works will not stop completely but will slow down. Except for de-silting, other repair works will be carried out. The irrigation department had identified nearly 45,000 lakes to be revived under the initiative over a period of five years.
