Superintendent Engineer K. Suryaprakasa Rao (Dowleswaram Barrage) on Wednesday released water from Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram into the Central delta and the Eastern Delta canals, irrigating the 4.83 lakh acres of land under paddy in the East Godavari district in the Kharif season.
The water has also been released into the Pithapuram branch. The officials have performed puja before releasing the water into the canals.
The irrigation officials have chalked out a plan to release the 4000 cusecs of water within a week. However, a total of 8000 cusecs of water is available at the barrage by Wednesday.
The actual requirement of water is 12,000 cusecs for the Kharif operations in the district and it is expected to be met with the inflow of floodwater as southwest monsoon would bring more rains in the coming days.
Mr. Suryaprakasa Rao told The Hindu; “500 cusecs of water is being released every day from the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage from Wednesday. Above 2.3 lakh acres of land will be irrigated through the Eastern delta channel while above 1.72 lakh acres of land will get the water through the Central delta channel”.
The entire Konaseema area depends on the Central delta channel for the irrigation water that is expected to arrive Konaseema within five days from the barrage.
Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage Executive Engineer R. Mohana Rao has said that huge inflow of floodwater could be witnessed during the floods in the river Godavari between July 15 and August 15, enabling the irrigation department to supply the water for the paddy cultivation during the entire Kharif season.
Agriculture Department Joint Director K.V.S. Prasad has observed that the Kharif operations would speed up across the district with the arrival of the irrigation water from the barrage. The total area under the paddy cultivation in the Kharif season in the East Godavari district is 2.25 lakh hectares.
