Govt to regulate KC canal irrigation water in 2 phases

Vijayawada: The state government decided to regulate irrigation water to the KC canal ayacut in two phases to support standing Rabi crops, in view of the Central Water Commission's decision to install new crest gates at the Tungabhadra dam. The storage in the reservoir is capped at 80 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) for 2025-26, which made it impossible to provide water for a second crop through the KC canal under normal allocations.The state government has directed district collectors and public representatives to take appropriate measures to raise awareness among farmers. It was explicitly stated that supplying water for the second (Rabi) crop is not feasible in the ayacut area from 0-150 km along the KC canal. However, farmers in the constituencies of Nandikotkur, Panyam, and Srisailam have already sown Rabi crops across nearly 40,000 acres.
With the welfare of these farmers in mind, the respective MLAs — Gitta Jayasurya, Gauru Charitha Reddy, and Budda Rajasekhar Reddy — urged chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu to release water from Malyala and Machumarri to meet irrigation needs. After assessing the current storage levels in the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs, and staying within the quota allocated by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), the government evaluated the water required to save standing crops and meet drinking water needs until July.Notwithstanding the low overall reserves, authorities decided to release water in two spells, with each lasting 20 days, on humanitarian grounds, to prevent total crop loss for farmers who sowed under the KC canal.District collectors, along with officials from revenue, police, and water resources departments, are instructed to ensure strict supervision so that the released water is used judiciously. "This decision reflects our government's priority to balance limited water availability with farmer support amid ongoing infrastructure works at Tungabhadra and inter-state water-sharing constraints," said Ramanaidu.
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