Low water levels dampen pilgrims spirits

​Mahbubnagar: With the floodwaters from upstream Krishna river reducing drastically, the water levels in all the major ghats upstream and downstream of the Jurala Project have fallen steeply, which has dampened the spirits of pilgrims coming from various parts of the State to take a holy dip.

Earlier, with heavy rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka, more than two lakh cusecs of water was released from Almatti dam in Karnataka and the first four days witnessed good flow of water at the ghats. However, after reduced inflows from upstream, Karnataka authorities closed all the gates of Almatti and are releasing only 25,000 cusecs into the Jurala Project since past two days.

With reduced inflows, the dam authorities of Jurala have also closed all the crest gates. This has lead to a drastic fall in the water levels at all the major ghats both downstream and upstream of the Krishna river.

Because of reduced water levels at some of the ghats, the authorities are diverting the pilgrims to other ghats where there is enough water. For instance, the Nandimalla ghat near the Jurala Project is facing acute shortage of water and the pilgrims are struggling to take a dip. Women and children are wetting themselves with mud water and returning back with dampened spirits.

“We were told there is good flow of water near the dam, but the situation here is totally different. There is no water and we have to struggle literally to dip ourselves in the muddy water,” said Laxmi, a woman pilgrim who had come from Mahbubnagar for a holy dip. Similarly, at Tangadi ghat and Krishna ghat upstream of the Jurala Project, which witnessed heavy flow of water for the initial four days, the pilgrims have to walk all the way down into the river to take a holy dip.

Though the authorities have installed water showers and taps at some of the ghats, they are nonfunctional and are just a show off. “The shower taps work only when the power is on and if the pumping motor is under repair we have no other option but to drench ourselves in the mud water,” said a devotee at Krishna ghat.

With the holy Pushkaralu programme still to go on for five more days, dipping water level is creating more problems for the pilgrims as they have to literally walk into the riverbed for a holy dip. On the upstream of the project, while the water level at Tangadi and Krishna ghats has reduced to riverbed levels, the water level at Vasunagar ghat has dropped to zero level.

However, the water level at Pasupula, Panchadevpahad, Musalaipally, Anugonda, Parevula and Gaddampally ghats is at medium level due to Jurala backwaters and there is no problem for the pilgrims coming to these ghats.

The water at the Nandimalla ghat and the Gadwal ghat on the downstream of Jurala, has dipped to lowest levels and the number of pilgrims coming to these ghats is slowly coming down. But if the authorities release the 25,000 cusecs of water coming as it is from the upstream, there is a possibility these two ghats can serve the pilgrims for 2-3 more days without any problem.

But the authorities are in no mood to open the gates of Jurala as they are cautious this time not to waste water as they need to keep in mind the agriculture needs of the farmers in the district.

“Out of 52 ghats, only 4-5 ghats may be facing water problems, but most of the ghats are having good water levels. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake as last year. Due to excess release of water, we had to face water problems both for irrigation and drinking,” informed an official.