Hyderabad: Telangana irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that 177 cases of breaches and damages across tanks, canals, and lifts across the state were reported due to heavy rains and floods, the restoration costs of which have been estimated over Rs 335 crore.
During a review meeting held on Tuesday, August 19 with all the irrigation higher-ups, he said that nearly 3,500 temporary restoration works were already undertaken.
Noting that Adilabad, Mulugu, Mahabubnagar, and Suryapet reported higher levels of damage, Uttam Kumar Reddy directed that permanent restoration works needed to be prioritised, warning that any negligence in flood management would not be tolerated.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana was facing a dual challenge – flood management in low-lying areas and irrigation support to farmers. He assured that the government would handle both with equal seriousness.
“Farmers’ welfare is our top priority. At the same time, we will ensure that people in flood-hit regions are protected and provided immediate relief,” he said.
The minister called for continuous monitoring of reservoir levels, strict flood preparedness, and coordination between irrigation and revenue officials for effective water management.
He instructed irrigation officials to maintain strict vigilance over the rising inflows into reservoirs, take preventive measures for flood damage, and to ensure appropriate supply of water to farmers during the current Kharif crop season.
He directed the engineers to ensure that farmers received water as per the crop calendars. For the ongoing Kharif season, the State-Level Committee for Integrated Water Planning and Management (SCIWAM) had proposed irrigation coverage requiring over 388 TMC of water. He said that district officials must coordinate the releases from tanks, so that no ayacut area is left out, especially in the regions that depend on minor irrigation.
He asked engineers to operate the infrastructure at their maximum efficiency to secure Godavari waters for the current and future cropping cycles, with optimum utilisation of water in Kadam, Yellampalli, and Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). He also instructed them to fill up all minor irrigation tanks to ensure year-round water adequacy.
The minister informed that he would visit the Sripada Yellampally Project in Peddapally district, Sriram Sagar Project in Nizamabad, and Mid-Manair Project in Rajanna Sircilla district on Wednesday to assess the situation.
Reviewing the status of major reservoirs, the minister pointed out that water inflows into the Krishna basin had reached significant levels. At Jurala, inflows stood at 2.18 lakh cusecs, while Nagarjuna Sagar recorded an outflow of 3.95 lakh cusecs on Tuesday. The Srisailam project, with its gross capacity of 215.81 TMC, was holding 198.81 TMC, as compared to 192.97 TMC last year on the same date. Similarly, Nagarjuna Sagar, with a capacity of 312.05 TMC, has present storage capacity of 297.15 TMC.
In the Godavari basin, heavy inflows were reported across key projects. Sri Ram Sagar Project was holding 73.37 TMC against its gross storage capacity of 90.30 TMC, while Singur Project stood at 19.48 TMC, significantly higher than last year’s 14.91 TMC.
District-level tank filling also reflected the abundance of inflows. Out of 34,740 tanks across Telangana, as many as 12,023 were surplus, while over 9,100 tanks were filled to 75–100 percent of their capacity. This, Uttam Kumar Reddy observed, indicated a strong water position for irrigation, as well as an increased pressure on managing the surplus discharges.
The meeting was attended by senior officials including irrigation principal secretary Rahul Bojja, special secretary Prashant Jeevan Patil, engineer-in-chief Amjad Hussain, and others.
