Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu on Saturday released 74,948 cusecs of water into the Krishna from the Srisailam reservoir by lifting three radial crest gates up to a height of 10 feet.
Nandyal MP Pocha Bhrahmananda Reddy, Srisailam MLA Shilpa Chakrapani Reddy, Srisailam Dam Superintending Engineer P. Sreerama Chandra Murthy, Zilla Parishad Chairman Y. Papireddy, and Nandyal District Collector Manazir Jeelani Samoon were present.
Mr. Rambabu, who had arrived at Srisailam on Friday night, told the media that the water level in all the reservoirs in the State this year were likely to reach the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) as rains had arrived early in the catchment area.
Amid Vedic chants and other rituals, the Minister switched on the motors for the lifting the crest gates.
“This is a good omen for the people in general and farmers in particular as it will help farmers to sow seeds and grow their crops in time,” the Minister said.
“There have been good rains in the State ever since Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the Chief Minister,” he observed.
Earlier, Mr. Rambabu had darshan of the presiding deity at the Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple.
The water release was regulated at 3 p.m. and only two gates were opened up to a height of 10 feet to release 53,580 cusecs through the spillway.
The Andhra Pradesh Power House was utilising 29,949 cusecs and the Telangana Power House 25,427 cusecs. The Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme was drawing 1,600 cusecs and the Pothyreddypadu Head Regulator 17,000 cusecs. The Malyala scheme was drawing 1,013 cusecs for the HNSS network, taking the total outflow to 1,28,569 cusecs against an inflow of 1,19,980 cusecs.
The inflows had fallen drastically from 1,61,000 cusecs on Friday evening to 1,19,980 cusecs as of 2 p.m. on Saturday with live storage being 201.9 tmc ft. The water level at the dam was 882.2 feet.
