Godavari water will be released from the Polavaram irrigation project into the irrigation canals in the East and West Godavari districts by April 15, against the previous date on March 31.
At the meeting of the Irrigation Advisory Councils (IABs) of the East and West Godavari districts in November 2020, the project authorities of Polavaram announced that no more water would be released from March 31, in order to start construction work on the cofferdam.
Work on the cofferdam – Cap-3 (300 meters long) – should begin in April and be completed by the end of June.
This year, farmers also preferred short-term crops for the Rabi season 2021 in the districts.
“We will continue to release Godavari water through April 15th against the previous March 31st deadline. However, it will be stopped before April 15th based on instructions from the Irrigation Department,” said Narasimha Murthy, Superintendent Engineer of the Polavaram Project The Hindu on Tuesday.
“We have received requests from stakeholders to continue the release of water for a few more days. Work on the cofferdam will only start after the release of water has stopped at the project site, ”he said.
“We are preparing to manage the situation based on the schedule set by the Polavaram project authorities for the release of Godavari water from the project site,” said East Godavari collector D. Muralidhar Reddy.