Uttam calls for urgent action on reservoir silt crisis

Hyderabad: Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday called for the immediate initiation of Phase-II desiltation programmes across major irrigation projects, stressing that this is essential to restore lost storage capacity and secure water for farmers amid persistent sedimentation issues. Addressing a meeting of the irrigation officials, farmers and their representatives from the SRSP stage II ayacut districts at his chambers the Minister described sedimentation as a "major nationwide problem" affecting reservoirs from the historic Bhakra Nangal Dam to Telangana's Sriramsagar Project (SRSP).

He emphasised the need to tackle it under the national framework for desiltation and sediment management. He urged coordinated central and state efforts to revive aging irrigation infrastructure.

"Sedimentation has severely impacted storage in projects like SRSP, where capacity has dropped from the original around 120 TMC to approximately 80 TMC due to decades of silt buildup," He also said that the proposals for taking up desiltation programme will be placed before the state cabinet for approvals and funding.

Highlighting ongoing efforts, the minister noted that desiltation of the Kaddam (Kadem) project was successfully taken up in the first phase using modern dredging techniques on a pilot basis.

Officials confirmed that desiltation aligns with national sedimentation management guidelines, including environmental safeguards. Surveys and tenders are advancing for projects like Kaddam (with an estimated ~3 TMC ft capacity loss to silt), SRSP, and others, with phased execution planned to minimize monsoon disruptions.