Water flowing downstream after lifting of Babli Barrage gates in Nanded district in Maharashtra on July 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
The gates of Babli Barrage near Dharmabad across the river Godavari in Nanded district of Maharashtra, located in the immediate upstream/foreshore area of Sriramsagar project in Telangana, were lifted on Monday by the water resources engineers of the upper riparian State under the supervision of engineers from the Central Water Commission (CWC) and in the presence of engineers from Telangana.
Maharashtra mandated to keep the gates open on particular dates
As per the Supreme Court judgement given in 2013, Maharashtra is mandated to keep open the gates of the barrage from July 1 to October 28 and also on March 1 every year to protect the riparian rights of the downstream State and to meet the drinking water needs, respectively. On Monday, the barrage had only 0.2 tmc ft water and with the lifting of all 14 gates, most of it would flow downstream.
According to irrigation authorities of Telangana, rains in the local catchment areas (within Telangana territory) have helped Sriramsagar project realise about 4.2 tmc ft water this year from June 1. As on July 1 morning, the reservoir had 10.47 tmc ft storage with inflow recorded at about 3,800 cusecs against the capacity of 90.31 tmc ft against 15.88 tmc ft on the same day last year.
The water level stood at 1,059.6 ft on Monday against the full reservoir level 1091 ft and 1,064.9 ft on the same day last year.
The lifting of barrage gates was supervised by Executive Engineer of the CWC (Upper Godavari Division) E. Venkateshwarlu and Sub-Divisional Engineer Satish as Maharashtra engineer EE C.R. Bansod instructed the barrage staff to operate motors for lifting the gates. Superintending Engineer of SRSP Srinivas Gupta, EE Chakrapani and Assistant EE Vamshi were present.
Water levels in all projects continue to remain low
Meanwhile, the water levels in all projects both in the Godavari and Krishna Basins in the State continue to remain low with no significant inflows so far this season. Only Jurala (7.26 tmc ft), Srisailam (6.36), Sriramsagar (4.22) have received fresh flows worth any mention this season and the water level in Nagarjunasagar is very low at 121.87 tmc ft on Monday against 148.73 tmc ft on the July 1 last year.
