Prakasam farmers in distress

Prakasam farmers in distress September 11, 2011 DC Ongole While many areas of Krishna and Guntur districts were hit by floodwaters of Krishna river for the last four days, the farmers in Prakasam district were starved of water as the Nagarjunasagar right canal, the main irrigation source for Prakasam district and aimed to irrigate around 9.73 lakh hectares, is not helping the cause of farmers. With the Krishna river in spate for the last few days, a big chunk of water is being released into the Bay of Bengal due to the apathetic approach of the authorities concerned. According to records, a total of 2,200 tmc feet of water was released into the sea in 2009 while it was 1,246 tmc feet in 2010. It is estimated that one tmc feet of water can irrigate 15,000 acres under drip irrigation, or 10,000 acres under normal cultivation method. It is learnt that lack of maintenance of canal and overuse of water by farmers in Guntur have been dashing the hopes of cultivators in Prakasam district. In this kharif, tilling took place in 70,000 hectares only as against a total of 2.96 lakh hectares. Speaking to this newspaper, the Sagar canal superintending engineer, B. Sivaprasad Rao said the district was receiving 2,500 cusecs of water a day, against its allocation of 3,350 cusecs. He added that farmers in Guntur district were using more water than their quota. The Darsi MLA, Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy said that for the past several years, the government is showing partiality towards releasing water to Prakasam and warned of starting agitations if officials fail to release at least the floodwaters into Sagar canal. The Telugu Rythu state president, Karanam Balaramakrishnamurthy, alleged that the release of water to Sagar canal was inadequate due to the laxity of officials, despite having sufficient water reserves. Referring to the abundant supply of water to adjacent Guntur district through Sagar right canal, he alleged that public representatives of Prakasam district were inactive in getting water quota. The BJP district president, Goli Nageswara Rao, alleged that the government is not interested to serve the farmers, hence it is not releasing water to Prakasam. He felt floodwater release to Prakasam district would boost cultivation in the backward district. The AP Rythu Sangham district secretary, N. Ranga Rao, lamented that the government is reluctant to provide free natural water reserves for the development of cultivation in Prakasam. He added that Guntur area farmers are using Prakasam water by blocking the flow and demanded strict vigil by revenue and police department to curb the misuse.