Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Govt. sanctions Rs. 1.46 cr. for desilting Kandaleru canal

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI SEPT. 9. The State Government today issued an order, sanctioning about Rs. 1.46 crores for desilting and other repair works in the Tamil Nadu portion of the Kandaleru-Poondi Canal, in preparation for Krishna water arrivals.

According to the order, the 25-km-long stretch will be divided into three packages and the desilting work will have to be completed before the onset of the northeast monsoon (which is around October 15).

The order has been issued as the repair works in the Andhra Pradesh portion are almost nearing completion and the authorities of the neighbouring State have been raising a question whether the Tamil Nadu portion of the canal is ready to receive Krishna water, when released into the canal.

Though even now the canal can carry 700 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water, the capacity will go up to the originally envisaged level of 1,000 cusecs on completion of the works, according to sources. Considering all these aspects, the State Government has given the order.

As far as the repair works in Andhra Pradesh, the latest deadline is September 15.

In view of the urgency of the works, the Public Works Department has decided to call short-term tenders. "We have planned to complete all the necessary formalities in a week", the sources say.

Water level

Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, the storage of the Red Hills tank, the terminal storage point in the city supply system, stood at 490 mcft (million cubic feet) and at Satyamurthi Sagar in Poondi, it was 2 mcft.

Chembarampakkam, also used for supplementing the supply, had a storage of 17 mcft. (The capacity of the three strorage points: 3,300 mcft, 3,231 mcft and 3,645 mcft respectively).

"We will start pumping of water from Red Hills once the storage goes down to 300 mcft. Till then, we can draw water through gravitational force", says a Metrowater official.

However, the arrangements are being made to keep the machinery ready to commence the pumping at short notice.

In Andhra Pradesh, the storage of Srisailam dam stood at 107 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet). Somasila had 1.99 tmcft and Kandaleru 4.45 tmcft. (The capacity of the three dams is 308 tmcft, 78 tmcft and 59 tmcft respectively).

The transfer of water from Srisailam to Somasila, to be eventually released to Chennai through Kandaleru, can commence only when the storage touches around 130 tmcft, the official says.

This morning, Srisailam recorded an inflow of about 13,600 cusecs whereas a week ago, the flow was of the order of 50,000 cusecs.

This has dampened the spirit of the officials here as they have been desperately waiting for Krishna water for the city.

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