Ballari: Farmers of Ballari, Koppal and Raichur districts, who depend on the Tungabhadra reservoir at Hosapete in Ballari district for water, are yet to commence sowing.
For, water level in the reservoir has reached the dead storage level with no good inflow into it in the wake of poor rainfall in the catchment areas of the Tungabhadra river. Some farmers, who had readied their land for sowing, have been forced to put their plans on hold.
Usually, farmers would have been busy sowing around this time of the year. But with no water from the reservoir and a prolonged dry spell, farmers are a worried lot.
The going has not been good for farmers of the three districts after the authorities stopped releasing water into the canals a few months ago.
The inflow into the reservoir is now low with the catchment areas, especially the Malnad region, receiving poor rainfall.
However, the saving grace is the reservoir still has 2.06 tmcft of water sufficient to meet the drinking needs of the people of Ballari, Koppal and Raichur districts. But the authorities say this may not last long if the monsoon continues to play truant.
The situation is grim this year compared to last year when the reservoir had 28.21 tmcft of water on June 28, 2018. The inflow then was 6,000 cusecs.
There was no rainfall in the region during the corresponding period last year also. But the showers in the catchment areas brought good inflow into the reservoir. Water was released into the canals on time helping farmers grow paddy, banana and sugarcane crops.
Officials of the Tungabhadra reservoir board say that they may be able to release water from the reservoir only after August if it receives a good inflow in the next few days.
"Every year by this time, we would have started sowing. We may not be able to grow jowar even this year," Hanumanthappa, a farmer from Kamalapur in Hosapete taluk, says.
