4 gates of Srisailam lifted up to 10 metres

Hyderabad: With heavy inflows from the Krishna river reaching Srisailam reservoir, four gates of the dam were lifted on Friday in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar and Telangana Minister S Niranjan Reddy.

This year the gates have been lifted early as compared to last year. Due to poor inflows, the gates were lifted on August 18 in 2018 and on October 12 in 2017.

The gates of the dam have been lifted to 10 metres height and water was released downstream into Nagarjunasagar. Around one lakh cusecs from the three gates was released downstream.

Prior to the release of water, the ministers performed 'Jala Puja'. Officials said it would take two days for the water to reach Nagarjunasagar.

This is the first time of the season the dam was receiving constant inflows of 3.5 lakh cusecs of flood waters from the upper stream.

Due to heavy rains in the catchment areas, particularly in Karnataka, Almatti dam was brimming with inflows from where the water is released to Narayanapur and Jurala barrages.

On learning about the water release from Srisailam dam people from two Telugu-speaking states besides devotees started visiting the Mallikarjuna swamy temple in Srisailam.

Nature lovers in large numbers also flocked to have a glimpse. Next three days being holidays, the number of people visiting the dam site is likely to be heavy and the district administration is making necessary arrangements to regulate the crowd.

The storage capacity of Srisailam dam is 885 feet with 215 tmc ft. Water levels in the dam already reached 884 feet and there is no way of storing the water, according to Chief Engineer of Irrigation Department Narayana Reddy.