Telangana to Hold Varuna Yagam at Nagarjunasagar on August 10 for Rain

The Telangana government will conduct a grand Varuna Yagam at the Vijay Vihar premises in Nagarjunasagar on Monday, August 10, seeking abundant rainfall across the Krishna and Godavari river basins to safeguard the state's water security. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is scheduled to participate in the special Vedic ritual, while Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy will lead the overall programme.

The event will feature 108 priests and Vedic scholars performing elaborate rituals around 11 homa kundams throughout the day. Officials explained that the ritual is being organized with the collective hope that state reservoirs, tanks, and rivers receive adequate inflows, groundwater levels improve, and farmers are assured sufficient irrigation water during the ongoing agricultural season.

The yagam comes at a crucial junction for Telangana. Although the southwest monsoon has crossed the halfway mark, inflows into both the Krishna and Godavari river systems continue to remain below expectations. Authorities pointed out that Telangana’s water security depends not only on rainfall within state borders, but also on precipitation in the upper catchment areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka, which contribute a major share of flows into both river basins.

Current reservoir figures underscore the government's concern over storage levels. Nagarjunasagar, which possesses a gross storage capacity of 312.045 TMC, currently holds only 145.65 TMC of water. This leaves 166.39 TMC of vacant storage in the project. The reservoir level presently stands at about 518 feet, significantly below its full reservoir level of 590 feet. In contrast, on the same date last year, the project held around 310.25 TMC and was near full capacity.

While inflows in the Krishna basin are gradually improving — with Almatti receiving over 1.05 lakh cusecs of inflow and releases continuing downstream through Narayanpur, Jurala, and Srisailam — irrigation experts maintain that sustained rainfall across upstream regions remains essential for filling major reservoirs. Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy stated that while scientific monitoring of rainfall and reservoir levels continues, the Varuna Yagam symbolises a collective appeal for nature’s support in securing abundant rainfall and prosperity for the farming community.