Hyderabad, July 29 Fourteen crest gates of Nagarjuna Sagar dam across the Krishna River were lifted on Tuesday to release water downstream.
This is the first time in 18 years that the gates of the project have been opened in July.
The water from the dam is usually released in August. However, huge inflows from the Srisailam dam following heavy rain in upstream Maharashtra and Karnataka have almost filled the reservoir early this year.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and Minister for Scheduled Caste Development and Tribal Welfare Adluri Laxman Kumar oversaw the opening of 14 out of 26 crest gates to release water.
The gates were lifted to a height of five feet to release 78,060 cusecs of water downstream. The inflow into Nagarjuna Sagar was 2,28,900 cusecs on Tuesday morning, while the outflow was 1,18,790 cusecs.
The water was also being left in the left and right canals for irrigation and also for a hydroelectric power plant.
Authorities have alerted people in the low-lying areas downstream before releasing the water.
The water level in Nagarjuna Sagar dam rose to 587.20 feet on Tuesday morning against its full level of 590 feet. The water storage in the dam stands at 305.62 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) against its capacity of 312.04 TMC.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said he was happy to lift the crest gates of the dam. He described Nagarjuna Sagar as a modern temple. He said that the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had laid the foundation stone for the project, while later Indira Gandhi inaugurated it.
He noted that the mega project irrigated 22 lakh acres in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, following huge inflows from upstream projects, authorities opened crest gates of the Srisailam dam in Andhra Pradesh.
The crest gates were opened to a height of 10 feet to release the water downstream to Nagarjuna Sagar.
According to officials, the water level in Srisailam on Tuesday morning was 883 feet against the full reservoir level of 885 feet. The water storage was 204.78 TMC against its full capacity of 215.80 TMC.
As many as 2,29,743 cusecs of water are flowing into Srisailam from Jurala and Sunkesula projects, while outflow is 2,48,900 cusecs.
Officials said 1,62,942 cusecs were being released. The authorities were releasing 20,000 cusecs through Pothireddypadu head regulator, 35,315 cusecs through the left bank hydel power station, and 30,643 cusecs through the right bank hydel station.
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