Farmers demand allocation of assured Krishna waters

‘Water cannot be ensured if the project is treated as one based on floods in the Krishna’

Work on the giant tunnel of the first phase of the multi-crore Pula Subbaiah Veligonda project has been completed. The head regulator works at Kollamvagu to draw the Krishna waters from the foreshore of the Srisailam reservoir have also been completed.

Yet, the farmers, who have been expecting the Krishna waters to wet their parched lands in the drought-prone Prakasam district at least during this kharif season, have to wait for some more time for storing the water in the Nallamala Sagar reservoir constructed by closing the gaps at Kakarla, Sunkesula and Gottipadaya in view of the issues relating to the rehabilitation of the displaced people.

Houses to rehabilitate all the people of the 11 submersible villages have not been completed in the seven newly-formed colonies. However, common infrastructure facilities have been completed.

“The irrigation canal system also has to be completed fully for the water to reach the farms,” laments a group of farmers after a visit to the project site.

The pet project of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy under ‘Jalayagnam’ scheme, it had suffered cost and time overruns repeatedly before the first phase could be completed in January this year, overcoming the technical snags involved in drilling the tunnel of a diameter of 9.2 metres and an internal diameter of 7 metres, up to a distance of 18.8 km using double shielded boring machines imported so as not to disturb the natural environment of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR).

The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 2008. So far, over ₹5,400 crore had been spent on the project.

Another ₹2,000 crore would have to be spent to complete the second tunnel up to a distance of 7 km and for rehabilitation of over 7,500 families in seven colonies, Superintending Engineer M. Srinivasulu Reddy said.

“The second tunnel has already been drilled up to a distance of 11.8 km so far. It will be able to completed by the end of 2023,” Irrigation Department sources say.

“The non-inclusion of the project by the Centre while issuing the gazette notifying the jurisdiction of the Krishna River Management Board has come as a big shock to the farmers of the ayacut in the districts of Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts,” said All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee Prakasam district convener Ch.Ranga Rao after a meeting with Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi recently.

“Mr. Naidu favourably responded to the farmers’ demand to use his good offices with the Union Water Resources Ministry to include the project that had been considered as an ongoing project by the Bachawat Tribunal,” Mr. Ranga Rao said on his return from New Delhi.

Meanwhile, TDP Ongole Lok Sabha unit president N. Balaji, while expressing solidarity with the fasting former MLA Kandula Narayana Reddy in Markapur, demanded allocation of assured water from Andhra Pradesh’s share of Krishna waters.

“Water cannot be ensured if the project continues to be treated as one based on floods in the Krishna. The rehabilitation package at the rate of ₹12.50 lakh to each of the displaced family should be disbursed without further loss of time so that water can be stored in the Nallamala Sagar to its full capacity during this year itself,” said Mr. Narayana Reddy.

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