The decision to divert waters of Tandava Reservoir to meet the requirements of the city has not been approved by the project committee, and farmers in the ayacut.
The Collector has exceeded his authority in giving instructions in this regard without following proper procedure, Minister for Panchayat Raj and Narsipatnam MLA Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu has said.
There are 190 tanks under Tandava reservoir, which cater to the drinking water needs of the people of the ayacut, let these tanks be filled up first before diverting the waters to Visakhapatnam. “I can persuade farmers in my constituency to permit the diversion of water to meet the drinking water requirements of the city, but it cannot be at their cost,” the Minister told mediapersons here on Tuesday.
Tandava has 0.46 tmcft water and the GVMC wants 0.25 tmcft to supply drinking water and also supply water to the steel plant and other industries.
The water from Tandava can be diverted only for drinking purposes and not for industries. Any such move would cause heartburn and lead to residents in the ayacut opposing it, he said.
The GVMC should have planned better rather than allow things to come to such a pass, he said. The district administration too failed to rise to the occasion and has not taken steps to increase the capacities of the tanks.
“The district administration should have utilised the Backward Region funds from the Centre for removing silt from tanks serving the city, instead of spending it on building roads and other infrastructure elsewhere,” the Minister said.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has instructed the district administration to lift water from Pushkara scheme and there is a proposal to tap Yeleru water.
Desilting works
The district and city administration should take steps to improve the storage of the city tanks by taking up desilting works and create more storage tanks to address the demand for water in summer months and not take up knee-jerk decisions like tapping irrigation tanks during scarcity and once rains begin forget all about it, he said.
The Minister earlier reviewed the situation with officials of Panchayat Raj, Rural Water Supply and also GVMC Commissioner.
Ayyanna says water can be diverted only for drinking purposes and not for industries
