Braving the blazing sun, a young farmer staged a sit-in demonstration on the parched bed of the Peddacheruvu tank in Basvapuram village of Chintakani mandal on Monday to draw the attention of the district administration to the plight of farmers and to press for filling up of the dried up tank with Krishna waters.
V. Kondala Rao, a farmer of Basvapuram, sat on an indefinite fast on the dried up bed of the tank on Monday morning demanding release of water from the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) main branch canal at Chintakani into the parched Peddacheruvu to fill it.
Several farmers from Basvapuram, Ramakrishnapuram and some other neighbouring habitations flocked to the tank and extended their support to the protest programme.
Encroachments
Talking to media persons before launching the stir, Mr. Kondala Rao deplored that the peripheral areas of the tank, the prime source for irrigation in Basvapuram and Ramakrishnapuram villages, were encroached upon by unscrupulous elements in the past.
The tank has gone bone dry ahead of peak summer depriving farmers of water to meet the irrigation needs and quench the thirst of cattle. The precarious water situation warrants urgent steps to fill up the tank by releasing water from the NSP canal, he said, demanding that the authorities should clear the encroachments on the tank bed areas to protect and rejuvenate the water body.
Official responds
He called off his fast later in the day after Chintakani Tahsildar K. Srinivas arrived at the dried up tank bed and held talks with the NSP and Irrigation Department officials over phone to address the water issue.
The Tahsildar assured the agitated farmer that the matter would be taken to the notice of the higher ups to ensure release of water from the Nagarjunasagar Project canal into the tank at Basvapuram next week.
He told him that the tank was already desilted under the tank restoration project.
