The Karanja dam has reached its full storage capacity. Officials who worked on the project say this is the first time the dam is holding 7.6 tmcft of water, considered to be its full reservoir level (FRL).
Engineers are of the opinion that sustained inflow at the rate of 10,000 cusecs per day, will force them to open the gates, to reduce pressure on the dam.
The dam, conceived in 1969, began storing water since 1989. The project has faced several time and cost overruns. Work on certain tail end canals, command area development and resettlement of villages is yet to be completed.
Earlier, it was planned that the dam would have a FRL of 9.27 tmcft. This was later scaled down to 7.6 tmcft. The dam’s live storage is estimated to be about 7.3tmcft. A full dam is expected to irrigate 29,227 hectares of land.
The summer of 2016 was the hottest and most dry for the district. Water levels in Karanja sunk to 0.5 tmcft. Farmers are relieved that the excess rain in Bidar and Telangan has filled the dam this time.
Eshwar Khandre, district in-charge Minister, who performed a puja on Wednesday, has asked officials to ensure optimum utilisation of the waters.
Published - October 07, 2016 01:26 am IST
