Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Due to abundant rainfall this year, around 500 well-maintained KT weirs in the district have recently had gates installed to store water. As a result, nearly 50,000 cubic meters (TCM) of water has been retained, which will benefit about 13,500 hectares of land through irrigation.
Executive engineer Kapil Bidgar informed that the district has 585 KT weirs with a total storage capacity of 67,175 TCM. However, this year's heavy rains caused 64 embankments to be washed away and 12 to become damaged. Despite this, gates were installed on about 500 embankments , allowing them to hold 50,000 TCM of water.
Usually, the gates are installed by mid-October, but due to high water inflow this year, storing water was not possible until November 15 to 20. Had the gates been installed earlier, excess water flow would have damaged the embankments, causing heavy losses to nearby farmlands. Therefore, farmers and gram panchayats cautiously installed gates in phases as the inflow decreased.
Notably, the Sillod, Vaijapur, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar have stored the most water, ensuring adequate irrigation for the upcoming Rabi season.
Direct and indirect irrigation benefits
KT weirs were introduced to improve groundwater levels. When water is stored, the nearby wells recharge, offering both direct and indirect irrigation benefits to farmers. Executive engineer Kapil Bidgar emphasized the need to strengthen Water User Associations. Responsibility for installing gates on the embankments has been entrusted to gram panchayats and beneficiary farmers.