CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu asks officials to optimise use of rainwater

Amaravati: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to utilise the inflows generated by the recent rains to fill all available water bodies across Andhra Pradesh, with sharpened focus on the Krishna and Godavari deltas and their command areas.

Reviewing the rainfall and water situation at the Real-Time Governance Centre on Thursday, the Chief Minister instructed officials to store rainwater in all water bodies downstream of irrigation projects and use motors to lift water wherever required. Officials informed him that groundwater levels had improved somewhat following the heavy rains over the past three days and that around 11,000 cusecs of water had been flowing into the system from catchments, including the Munneru and Prakasam Barrage. Naidu specifically directed officials to fill the Yeleru reservoir with 24 tmc of water from the Godavari inflows and convey water through the Polavaram Left Canal to fill water bodies up to Anakapalli.

Heavy rainfall was reported in 16 districts, with Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Manyam, Kakinada, the Godavari districts, Eluru, Krishna and NTR among the areas that received significant rainfall in the last couple of days. The Chief Minister directed the administration to maintain a close watch on the Godavari, Krishna, Nagavali, and Vamsadhara basins as river and reservoir levels are expected to rise further. Significant inflows are expected into reservoirs including Sabari, Indravati, Yeleru, Tandava, Errakalva, Pampa, and Meghadrigedda. Officials foresee inflows of 21,200–26,500 cusecs into Yeleru, 6,000–7,500 cusecs into Tandava, 2,400–3,000 cusecs into Meghadrigedda and 3,100–3,875 cusecs into Pampa. The Gotta Barrage is expected to reach Warning Level-1 by the morning of September 25. Bhadrachalam is likely to cross Warning Level-1 by the afternoon of September 26 and Warning Level-2 by that night. Dowleswaram is expected to cross Warning Level-1 on September 27 morning and Warning Level-2 by evening. The Kunta gauge on the Sabari is also likely to reach the warning stage on September 26 morning.

On the agricultural front, Naidu said the impact of El Nino effects could be reduced by improving soil fertility, promoting alternative crops based on soil testing, biochar application, and natural farming. He directed officials to take up the approach as a pilot project and integrate agricultural data with irrigation-water availability and reservoir levels to provide advance guidance to farmers. The CM stressed greater use of AI and data analytics in governance. He reviewed applications integrating NASA satellite imagery with government datasets for groundwater management and called for wider use of AI Living Labs applications across departments. Naidu directed officials to also prepare an annual sports calendar under the Sports Aauthority of AP and conduct competitions at village level, improve school infrastructure, monitor sand availability and pricing, and strengthen field-level performance through constituency-wise reviews in all 175 constituencies.

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