Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Water released for kharif

Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Praying for bounty: Ministers Ponnala Lakshmaiah and K. Parthasarothy worship the Krishna as water is released from the Krishna Eastern Main Canal at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada on Wednesday. —

VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah released water for the cultivation of kharif crop in 7.37 lakh acres in the Krishna Eastern Delta from Prakasam Barrage, here on Wednesday. The Minister switched on the motors that hoist the gates of the Krishna Eastern Main Canal head sluice to release the water.

District Minister K. Parthasarothy, Zilla Parishad Chairman K. Nageswara Rao, MLAs Perni Venkataramayya (Machilipatnam), Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), D.Y. Das (Pamarru), Vellampalli Srinivas (Vijayawada West), former Ministers Mandali Buddha Prasad, Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru), former ZP Chairman Pinnamaneni Koteswara Rao and former Drainage Board member Yerneni Nagendranath were the prominent people who attended the programme.

Briefing the press, Mr. Lakshmaiah said water was being released for the raising of nurseries though the level of water in Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam reservoirs was very low.

He expressed the hope that the rains would come soon and adequate amount of water would be available for the crop.

He recalled how there was a scarcity of water in the Godavari Delta during the recent rabi crop. With the help of water management 11,000 acres could be irrigated with one tmcft. Higher yield could be achieved using relatively less water.

Asked about the much-delayed modernisation of Krishna Delta, the Minister said that work could not be taken up due to poor response for packages from contractors.

But work would be expedited in the next season. The Minister said that the primary purpose of modernising the irrigation infrastructure of Krishna Delta was to make more efficient use of the available water and ensure that water was within the reach of farmers in the tail-end areas.

A press release distributed by the Irrigation Department officials said that 80.14 tmcft were released for kharif – 2008 and 41.72 tmcft for 2008-09 Rabi.

Tenders for modernisation works have been finalised for only eight packages worth Rs. 874.63 crore. There was no response from contractors for the six remaining packages. There was a proposal to invite fresh tenders with revised Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR).

There was no response from contractors to the eleven packages for modernising the drains in the delta, the press release said.

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