The authorities on Wednesday released water from Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram into the central and eastern delta canals, which would irrigate 4.83 lakh acres under paddy cultivation in East Godavari district this kharif season.
Water has also been released into the Pithapuram branch canal. Superintending Engineer K. Suryaprakasa Rao (Dowleswaram Barrage) performed puja before releasing the water.
Around 8,000 cusecs of water was available at the barrage by Wednesday.
The irrigation officials have chalked out a plan to release 4,000 cusecs of water within a week.
The water requirement for kharif operations in the distict has been put at 12,000 cusecs and it is expected to be met with the inflow of flood water as the southwest monsoon would bring more rains in the coming days.
“Around 500 cusecs of water is being released from the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage daily. As many as 2.3 lakh acres of land will be irrigated by the eastern delta channel while more than 1.72 lakh acres will get water by the central delta channel,” said Mr.Suryaprakasa Rao. The Konaseema area depends on the central delta channel for irrigation water which is expected to reach within five days, he said.
Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage Executive Engineer R. Mohana Rao said that huge inflows was expected into the Godavari between July 15 and August 15, which would ensure irrigation water during the entire kharif season.
Farm operations
Meanwhile, Agriculture Joint Director K.V.S. Prasad has observed that the kharif operations would pick up across the district with the arrival of irrigation water from the barrage. The total kharif paddy acreage in East Godavari district would be around 2.25 lakh hectares.
