Kadapa: The state government decided to release irrigation water to the KC canal ayacut from August 1. Water resource department authorities made all arrangements to this extent. The water will first be released from the Nippula Vagu in Kurnool district and then from the Rajoli reservoir on the district boundary to the KC canal ayacut. With this, 92,000 acres of land will be officially irrigated in Proddatur, Mydukur, Kadapa and Kamalapuram constituencies. Unofficially, there is a possibility of irrigating some more extent of land.
Two days ago, Kamalapuram MLA Ravindranath Reddy released water downstream from the Adinimmayapalle dam. The government already released water from Pothireddypadu to Velugodu reservoir under Telugu Ganga project. The Velugodu reservoir is likely to be filled in 10 days. After that, water will be released to Brahmam Sagar, subsidiary reservoir-1 (SR-1) and subsidiary reservoir-2 (SR-2) in Kadapa district.
The total capacity of the Brahmam Sagar Reservoir under the Telugu Ganga project is 17.730 tmc ft, while last year it stored more than 14 tmc ft. Leakage in the main dam occurred when the water level in Brahmam Sagar reached 11 tmc ft. The government immediately directed the irrigation authorities to take steps to curb leakage on a war-footing. Tenders were called for construction of a diaphragm wall at a cost of Rs 46.48 crore to curb leakage. The Mega Engineering Company that secured these works is currently continuing the works. Brahmam Sagar currently has water storage of 8.3 tmc ft. It is expected to keep it intact and store water at full capacity after the bundle repairs are completed. In the meantime, they decided to supply water to the ayacut lands directly.
KC farmers are happy with the release of water to the canal. On this, Andhra Pradesh Farmers Association district secretary Gali Chandra said it was gratifying that the authorities were still releasing water to the KC canal ayacut area. He said the canals were bad in many places and it would have been better if they had been repaired before the water was released.
