Babli gates opened to let 0.6 tmc ft water flow to Telangana

Maharashtra lifts Babli Barrage gates to release 0.6 tmc ft water to Telangana, following Supreme Court order.

HYDERABAD

The irrigation (water resources) authorities of Maharashtra lifted the gates of Babli Barrage constructed across the river Godavari near Dharmabad in Nanded district to allow flow of 0.6 tmc ft water downstream (to Telangana) on the forenoon of Saturday (March 1) in the presence of Central Water Commission (CWC) officials and irrigation engineers of Telangana.

As per the Supreme Court judgment of February 2013, gates of the Babli Barrage are lifted by Maharashtra on March 1 every year to let down 0.6 tmc ft water to Telangana for meeting the drinking water needs. Accordingly, the gates are lifted in the forenoon and closed in the evening after discharging 0.6 tmc ft water.

In addition, the Supreme Court order had stipulated that the barrage gates have to be kept open from July 1 to October 29 every year to protect the riparian rights of people downstream by keeping the river in free-flow condition.

Executive Engineer of CWC E. Venkateshwarlu, Executive Engineer from Andhra Pradesh (Dowlaiswaram) R. Mohan Rao, Executive Engineer from Telangana (Sriramsagar Project Pochampad) M. Chakrapani and Executive Engineer from Maharashtra C.R. Bansod were present at the lifting of Babli gates. Deputy Engineer from Maharashtra (Nanded) Prashant Kadam, Assistant Executive Engineer (Sriramsagar) Ravi Kotta and Junior Engineer Babli Sachin Dev Kamble supervised the lifting of gates by Vinay, Sushant and Ricky.

As on Saturday, the water level in Sriramsagar has been recorded at 1,075 ft against full reservoir level of 1,091 ft and storage at 32.897 tmc ft against full capacity of 80.5 tmc ft. On the same day (March 1) last year, the water level was 1,070.2 ft and storage of water at 23.68 tmc ft. The total inflows into the project this year (from June 1, 2024) are 283.78 tmc ft.

Release of water to Kakatiya Main Canal (3,000 cusecs), Laxmi Canal (250 cusecs), Alisagar lift (360 cusecs), Gutpa lift (270 cusecs), other lifts (312 cusecs), Saraswati Canal (600 cusecs) flood flow canal (3,000 cusecs), Mission Bhagiratha (230 cusecs) was on with total outflows so far this year, including release of flood to the river downstream recorded at 258.3 tmc ft.