The locals, mainly farmers, fear that River Penganga may cause floods during the monsoon in the Adilabad region again if there are heavy rains upstream. They note that the work on the Korata-Chanaka barrage constructed on the river was yet to be completed and it can’t be operational for the Kharif season. On September 28, 2023, the wet run of the Korata – Chanaka barrage was conducted successfully by the irrigation department as elections were round the corner.
But there was no further momentum towards its operations later. The officials released 300 cusecs of water downstream from the barrage. The previous BRS government did a wet run just before the assembly elections to create an impression that the government had fully completed the barrage, though the barrage was not operational.
Canal construction was not completed to release the water from the barrage. The officials claim that sub-canal works are pending at Neerala due to a delay in land acquisition; and that the work of the pump house to be used for lifting water and the main canal is completed. The state government has revised the cost of the construction of the Korata-Chanaka barrage to `795.
94 crore from an initial `350 crore. The Korata-Chanaka barrage aimed at providing water to 50,000 acres in the Jainad, Bela and Bheempur mandals in the Adilabad assembly constituency. The project, with a storage capacity of 0.
85tmc water, was taken up with `350 crore initially. The project cost escalated to `500 crore later.
