Villages celebrate with fish meals

 people fishing in the backwaters of Mattadivagu project  at Tamsi

Heavy rains brought life to fishing activity in the villages with people resorting to traditional fishing as tanks, streams were overflowing and fishes entering into the canals, agriculture fields.

People of many villages are celebrating the rains with festive meals from the catch.

All the major and minor irrigation projects have received rainwater in the district including river Penganga. 

The construction work of Korata- Chanaka barrage on river Penganga was abandoned due to water flow and it is said that the cement platform was washed away in the floodwaters a few days ago.

People were seen busy fishing at down streams of irrigation projects, at ‘Thumu’ of tanks and ‘Mattadi’ and catch fish traditional tools.

Chinnaiah of Jainad, who caught a 6 kg fish in a rivulet in Mancherial sold the fish for Rs 600 and was ecstatic at this sudden downpour of luck. However, it will take few more days for irrigation projects to receive rainwater up to full tank level.    

People of neighboring villages have been thronging to the Mattadivagu irrigation project for fishing. People are using saris, and bed sheets as nets for catching fish for the family feast.

Adivasis are enthusiastically fishing in tanks located in their areas while the heavy rains breached the roads and rainwater flowing over the low-lying bridges disrupting the transportation and connectivity to the interior villages including Mattadiguda in Utnoor division.

The low-lying bridges have become redundant especially in tribal areas and there were proposals to construct the high- level bridges in its place for the free flow of  rainwater and transportation and to improve the road connectivity especially in Narnoor mandal.

New barrages to prevent floods

River Penganga is flowing high 

The proposed four irrigation barrages planned on river Penganga and Pranahitha will not only improve the Agriculture ayacut in the district but also prevent the seasonal floods take place especially in Adilabad and Sirpur (T) Assembly constituencies in the district.

The flood affected mandals will get most benefit with the four barrages. Recently, Maharashtra and Telangana governments had signed on MOU on these barrages.    

The Tamsi, Jainad and Bela mandals, were most flood affected due to overflowing of river Penganga in Adilabad constituency while Sirpur(T), Bejjur, Kautala were most affected in Sirpur(T) due to river Pranahitha in Sirpur (T) Assembly constituency in the Adilabad district.

During the floods, road connectivity gets affected in these mandals and hundreds of houses and agriculture fields with standing crops were inundated in the flood water causing much damage to crops and loss to the farmers.

There were incidents where the team of national disaster response teams swung into the action to save the lives of the people in the flood affected areas in the recent years in district. 

People of the these mandals are hopeful of these proposed barrages will prevent the floods in the future and cheers to the people of the same areas with water to irrigate their lands.

It is estimated that, Pranahitha- Chevella barrage to be constructed on river Pranahitha will give water to nearly 2 lakh acres in Sirpur(T), Asifabad and Bellamaplli Assembly constituencies while three other barrages to be constructed on river Penganga will irrigate 25,000 acres in the flood affected mandals in Adilabad Assembly constituency.

Alke Ashok of Anthergoan village in Tamsi mandal said that ‘Rajapet and Korata and Chanaka barrages will certainly prevent floods and irrigate their barren lands’.