KURNOOL: An inter-ministerial Central team headed by Amitabh Gautam and members K. Ponnuswamy and Prem Singh inspected the adverse impact of drought in some villages in Ramapuram and Rayachoti mandals in Kadapa district on Tuesday.
Another Central team headed by J.K. Rathode and members J.R. Jargal and M. Ramakrishna inspected the drought-hit villages in Alur, Adoni and Kodumur mandals in Kurnool district.
In Kadapa district, the Central team inspected the dried up Nallaguttapalle tank and farm ponds in Ramapuram mandal, where farmers told them that the tank dried up six years ago owing to drought. They complained of acute drinking water scarcity due to depletion of groundwater table and difficulties in getting cattle feed and water for them. They sought free supply of cattle feed for six months.
When the team enquired about NREGS, the villagers said they were being provided work for 100 days a year at a daily wage of ₹194 and some were given work for 150 days.
The team later inspected the dried-up groundnut and red gram crops in Polireddigaripalle village in Rayachoti mandal in Kadapa district. Farmers sought speedy disbursal of crop loss compensation, subsidised seeds and free fodder for cattle. They sought desilting of tanks and repairs to check dams.
The team members had a meeting with the officials in the Rayachoti market yard and with farmers in Yandapalle tank in Rayachoti mandal. Yandapalle sarpanch Meghanath Reddy said farmers completely lost paddy, groundnut and mango crops, borewells dried up and were facing fodder shortage.
YSR Congress MLA of Rayachoti G. Srikanth Reddy submitted a memorandum seeking permanent drought mitigation measures and spoke about acute drinking water scarcity and withering away of mango trees. The MLA sought release of three tmcft of water from Handri Neeva project to Veligallu reservoir for catering to drinking water and irrigation needs.
Mr. Amitabh Gautam said they would submit a report to the government presenting the ground realities.
Alur tank
In Kurnool district, the Central team inspected Alur tank that irrigates 104 acres and farmers told them that the last time it received water was in 2009. Farmers wanted construction of Vedavathi project for mitigating drinking and irrigation water scarcity in the area. They inspected the dried groundnut and cotton crops in A. Gonehal village in Alur mandal.
Migration
A farmer, Basavaraju Swamy, said drought in Alur was more severe than in Anantapur district and people were migrating to Guntur, Hyderabad and other cities in search of work. Deer were damaging crops, he added. Another farmer Bhagyamma lamented that they had no option but to migrate in search of work in view of the drought.
The team inspected the withered cotton crop in Dhanapuram village in Adoni mandal, where farmers B. Srinivas and Somnath complained that they suffered crop damage due to lack of water and were steeped in debts. The team also inspected castor and cotton crops at Pyalakurthy village in Kodumur mandal.
