Water goes down the drain

A stitch in time saves nine, goes the saying. And it would have saved precious Tungabhadra water flowing into the State from going waste.

With the authorities failing to repair the structures on the Tungabhadra Right Bank High-Level Canal (HLC) at the Kannekal Balancing Reservoir, the water that had begun flowing into the State through the canal from Saturday had to be diverted to the Hagari river, near Cherlopalli village of D. Hirehal mandal in the district, till Sunday morning.

The Kannekal tank is the first storage facility after water enters Andhra Pradesh at the 105-km point.

Water had stopped flowing in the HLC on February 10 for last season, and water indent was given for release from July 25.

But, the sluice gates repair work on the Kannekal Balancing Reservoir was taken up only on July 19.

The delay in completion of work forced the authorities to divert the water through the escape channel into the Hagari river on Saturday, as a result of which the road connectivity to the nearby village was cut off with the stretch being washed away.

“Water is leaking from the sluice gates at the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh junction point. Had the water reached the Kannekal tank, the repair work would have been affected. Hence, water has been diverted into the river,” Anantapur HLC Superintendent Engineer Nayakanti Rajasekhar told The Puucho.

“The repair work has now been completed, and we are receiving the entire quantum of 900 cusecs directly into the Kannekal tank,” he added.

Earlier, Government Whip and Rayadurg MLA Kapu Ramachandra Reddy performed puja at the sluice gates where water enters the State.

TDP flays govt.

Meanwhile, TDP Polit Bureau member and former Rayadurg MLA Kalava Srinivasulu criticised the government for not taking up the repair works in time to receive the full quantum of water.

“The district could not tap more than 1 tmcft of water last season out of the allocation of 25 tmcft due to the delay in repair works and breach in the link canal from the HLC to the PABR tank,” he said.

This year, water was released from the dam on July 18 for the farmers in Karnataka. The HLC too had water till the 105-km point since July 21, he said.

“But due to lack of readiness of our canals and structures, we have lost eight precious days. And on Sunday, 21,000 cusecs was released into the Tungabhadra river from the spillway as it was not utilised in time,” Mr. Srinivasulu added.

The TDP leader demanded that the repairs to all the structures downstream the Kannekal tank be taken up immediately so as to keep them ready to receive water from Kannekal.