Hyderabad: Official on Alert to lift gates of Osmansagar again

Hyderabad: Within two months of opening of crest gates of Himayatsagar and Osmansagar lakes, authorities are now on their toes to raise the curtains of both the lakes again. While four gates of Himayatsagar were already opened to feed the Musi River, the storage capacity of Osmansagar also reached crest level putting officials on high alert again.

The storage of Himayatsagar is hovering at 1,762 ft (2.603 tmcft) with four gates already open to let loose flood water into the Musi. While the lake is getting an inflow of 500 cusecs, authorities plan to release 1,400 cusecs into the river by lifting the gates up-to a foot.

At the same time, Osmansagar is also witnessing heavy inflows for the last two days. Its storage capacity has reached 1,788.55 ft (3.568 tmcft), as against FRL of 1,790 ft (3.9 tmcft).

Similarly, two gates of Himayatsagar were lifted up to one ft on August 31 after the reservoir received heavy inflows from the upstream areas. Officials are rolling up their sleeves to open the crest gates of Osmansagar, with just over 1.5 ft gap left to replete the lake.

"We are sure of opening the gates of the lake again anytime as its capacity has reached the crest due to consistent inflows from the upstream areas. Seeing the copious rains, we are prepared to raise the gates again as more showers have been forecast in the coming days," said a lake official.