Kolhapur: The Kolhapur irrigation department has issued an advisory to farmers within the command area of the Dudhganga (Kalammawadi) dam, the largest dam in the district situated in Radhanagari tehsil. The guidance urges farmers to limit the cultivation of water-intensive sugarcane crops and, if possible, explore the cultivation of short-tenure Rabi and summer crops that require less water, reported The Times of India.
Currently, the Dudhganga dam, with a capacity of 25 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet), holds a live storage of 22 TMC. The live stock would have been sufficient if there were no leakages in the dam, resulting in a loss of approximately 270 liters of water per second. To address this issue, authorities have received approval for a plan amounting to around Rs 8 crore to plug these leakages.
As per news report published in The Times of India, Smita Mane, executive engineer from the Kolhapur irrigation department, said, “We will not be able to supply water for irrigation if the demand increases. To ensure there is limited demand, the farmers should not increase the area under sugar cane cultivation. If possible they should shift to short-term crops which are less water dependent.”
