The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) will study the impact of Mission Kakatiya, the ambitious programme launched by the Telangana government to restore and revive the irrigation tanks.

The institute and the Command Area Development Authority of Telangana will sign an agreement to facilitate an extensive study. Under the agreement, the institute will study whether the ground water levels have gone up under the restored tank area and whether the revived tanks provided irrigation to the farmers. “It will study how the silt from the tanks increased fertility in the farmers’ fields. The institute will make a comprehensive study on the three phases of Mission Kakatiya and submit the report to the government,” a spokesperson of the Irrigation Department said.

After coming to power in 2014, the TRS Government conducted a census of all the minor irrigation sources in the State. It announced the Mission Kakatiya programme seeking to revive all of the 46,531 tanks in a span of five years, about 9,000 tanks each year.

The idea is to tap about 255 tmc water allocated for minor irrigation sector under Godavari and Krishna river basins. “We have completed three phases so far. The ICRISAT will study the impact of the tanks restored in these three phases. The report should be ready by the time all the five phases are completed,” the official said.

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