Acute water shortage in Naidu’s constituency

April 26, 2016 12:43 am | Updated October 18, 2016 03:09 pm IST - CHITTOOR:

Women thronging a public water source at Gudikothur village of Gudupalle mandal of Kuppam constituency.

Women thronging a public water source at Gudikothur village of Gudupalle mandal of Kuppam constituency.

The unusual rise in temperatures in Kuppam in Chittoor district, followed by fall in the groundwater levels at several places, is becoming a cause for concern.

The Kuppam Assembly constituency, represented by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu since 1989, holds a vast rural belt in the district. In spite of the efforts of the district administration’s efforts to overcome the drinking water crisis, several villages are reeling under water crisis since decades. Except for groundwater, there is no permanent source of drinking water for this tail-end region.

The November 2015 rains brought some relief to Kuppam, with considerable improvement in groundwater levels, which generally dip to 1,000 to 1200 feet. Every summer, additional funds are pumped into the constituency to tackle the water crisis. During the previous regime of the TDP before 2004, check dams were constructed on Palar river, with its course from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu via Kuppam, and after the TDP returned to power in bifurcated Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the height of the check dams was increased by a couple of feet. In spite of these measures, the last time people saw water in Palar river was seven years ago.

Villages around Kuppam town are facing severe water problem, and there have been reports of women staging protests.

On Monday, people of Dalavai Kothapalle hamlet staged a demonstration at the mandal office in Kuppam, demanding water.

At present, residents of Kuppam are being supplied with water once in three days, leading to an uneasy situation.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.