Drinking Water, Irrigation Needs-Govt Gears Up For Balancing Act
The Telangana government is balancing drinking-water needs and irrigation demands amid uncertain rainfall and reservoir inflows during the El Niño-affected monsoon.
The focus of the irrigation department in this El Nino impacted monsoon is for a judicious balance between safeguarding drinking-water requirements, and meeting the irrigation needs of farmers, the government said on Tuesday.
Officials of the irrigation department were cautioned not to paint any overly optimistic picture of water availability in reservoirs, and inform people about the factual position. Water management during the coming months must be guided by prudence, scientific assessment and actual availability, rather than optimistic assumptions about future rainfall, the officials were told.
The government’s objective for the rest of the Kharif season is to use every dependable water source to protect standing crops, conserve supplies where inflows were uncertain and maintain complete transparency with farmers, the meeting was told.
The officials said it was possible to provide some irrigation, subject to constant monitoring on availability of water, from Devadula, Nizamsagar, Swarna, Sadarmat, Ramadugu, Buggalavagu, Ramapalli, Palem Vagu, Gouravavaram, Pocharam, Rajivsagar, Nilavayi, Vatti Vagu, Nalla Vagu, Palvai Purushotham Rao (Yerravagu) Project and Chelmelavagu (NTR Sagar) projects.
The review, chaired by irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, was attended among others by irrigation secretary E. Sridhar, joint secretary K. Srinivas, engineer-in-chief (general) O.V. Ramesh Babu, tunnel expert Col. Parikshit Mehra, ENC (administration) T. Srinivas, and ENC (O&M and quality control) R. Madhusudhan Rao.
