Nalgonda: Permanent gate fixation stops water wastage from Musi project

Nakrekal (Nalgonda): A new permanent gate with an estimated cost of Rs 1.80 crore was installed at fifth regulatory gate of Musi project recently, in the place of a temporary one.

Musi is the second largest irrigation project in the erstwhile Nalgonda district.

The project's fifth regulatory gate was washed away in floods in last October. The project provides direct and indirect water to about 30,000 acres through right and left canals and drinking water to the people of Suryapet town.

Since the construction of the project, previous Andhra rulers allegedly did not provide any funds for the project's modernisation.

After the formation of separate Telangana State, Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy took initiation and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had sanctioned Rs 18.50 crore for the project development. With these funds, old and dilapidated gates were replaced with new ones at the project and BT road was built over the earth dam. This has increased water storage capacity and increased area under cultivation strategically than in the past.

Floods hit gate

In last October, the project was hit by heavy flood waters and fifth regulatory gate was washed away. With this, Musi reservoir became empty as water flowed down the drain. Minister Jagadish Reddy again took initiation and a new temporary gate (Sop Log Gate) to the project was arranged within a week and the reservoir was filled with SRSP and SLBC waters. This helped the Musi ayacut farmers to harvest Yasangi crop without any hiccups and achieved good yields.

New gate on a permanent basis

A permanent gate was erected in the place of the temporary stop-log gate in the interest of farmers of Musi Ayacut. The new gate works were almost completed except for lowering the newly erected gate and setting up the chains (chains) required to raise it.

The project is ready to release water into lower Musi through 12th crest and seven regulatory gates if the floodwaters rise and fills up completely.

Musi water level rising to 620.60 feet

The water level of Musi project rose to 620.60 (0.515 TMC) feet on Thursday (July 23). According to the project officials, the inflow was 1680 cusecs from upper regions and project's full water level is 645 (4.46 TMCs) feet.

Leakages were completely prevented

Except the installation of chain to the new gate, all other works were successfully completed. With the installation of new gate, water wastage from the project was fully controlled. The water storage in the project is gradually increasing with the flood coming from upper stream. If the reservoir fills up as expected, it will be able to irrigate even the rain fed crops.