Farmers blocked a road at Chinthaguda village in Jannaram mandal of Telangana’s Mancherial district on Wednesday, opposing the irrigation department’s decision to stop releasing water from the Kadam irrigation project from November 7. They have demanded that irrigation supplies continue until the end of November to protect standing paddy and other crops.
The farmers said paddy in the booting stage requires adequate water for continued growth and warned that the crop could dry up if the supply is stopped. The protest centred on the timing of the proposed withdrawal, with cultivators seeking continued releases during a critical stage of the crop cycle.
The protesters also demanded that water reach tail-end areas, which are generally the last sections of an irrigation command area to receive supply. Their appeal places the issue beyond the immediate question of a release date: farmers are seeking both a longer supply window and distribution across the full extent of the irrigated area.
According to the report, the farmers also asked officials to balance irrigation requirements with drinking water needs. The demand indicates that the project’s water allocation is being contested between agricultural use and essential domestic needs as authorities prepare to stop the current irrigation releases.
The farmers alleged that water for the Kharif season had already been released 20 days late. They said the delayed start had reduced the time available for irrigation and was a factor behind their demand to continue supplies until November-end. The report did not specify the quantity of water currently available in the project, the area under cultivation or the irrigation department’s stated reason for the November 7 cut-off.
The road blockade brought the dispute into the public domain at village level, with cultivators pressing for an intervention by officials before the proposed stoppage. Their demand is for water to remain available through the end of November, while also ensuring that tail-end fields are not excluded from the supply. The immediate next step will depend on the irrigation department’s response to the farmers’ request and its decision on releases from the Kadam project after November 7.
