The Hindu : Farmers dependent on canals waiting for relief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Farmers dependent on canals waiting for relief

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD July 22. In spite of normal rainfall so far during this monsoon, farmers depending on canal irrigation are keeping their fingers crossed about the prospects of the kharif crop.

Till yesterday, the average rainfall in the State (200.5 mms) stood at one per cent above normal. While this has boosted crop prospects in upland areas and improved groundwater level, the overall situation in the State is none-too-happy. The total cropped area up to July 16 was 30.22 lakh hectares, compared with 33.48 lakh ha. for the corresponding period for 2000, an year when rainfall figures are comparable to that of 2003.

A matter of concern is the meagre area of 1.22 lakh ha. under paddy, constituting less than half of 2.58 lakh acres for the corresponding period in 2000. There is still a long way to go to reach the normal area of 26.40 lakh ha. under paddy. Till now, dry crops (27.37 lakh ha) constitute almost the entire area sown area.

Ironically farmers in the Krishna delta are hoping that the Alamatti dam in Karnataka fills up soon so that they can get water early. But, going by current trends, their hopes are likely to fructify only around August 15.

Alamatti will need another 54 tmcft of water to reach its gross capacity of 129.72 tmcft before water can be released to Narayanpur dam, which needs only about 10 tmcft to reach its gross capacity. As a result, inflows into Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams are nil and their storage is way below their gross capacity of 308.08 tmcft and 408.23 tmcft, respectively.

The situation in the Godavari basin is better with Sriramsagar project receiving 76,398 cusecs of water. This has improved its gross storage to 33.50 tmcft, against its capacity of 90.31 etc. All four arms of the Dowlaiswaram barrage are discharging water with the total outlflow being 4,83,541 cusecs. The discharge into Godavari delta canals has also picked up (10,690 cusecs) significantly on Tuesday.

Poor inflows into the Krishna notwithstanding, Prakasam barrage is receiving inflows of 2,664 cusecs from tributaries like Palair and Musi, downstream of Nagarjunasagar. As a result, water is being released into the Eastern Main canal though the Western Main Canal, Guntur Channel and Lift irrigation schemes remain dry.

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