Perturbed over farmers getting lesser quantity of water in the Addanki Branch Canal (ABC) of the Nagarjunasagar Right Bank Canal (NRBC), Prakasam Collector V. Vinay Chand took up the matter seriously with the Guntur district administration after extensively visiting the areas fed by the ABC.
The farmers who have been hoping against hope to save the standing khariff crop and take up cultivation to the full extent during rabi season were upset over realisation of a mere 500 cusecs of Krishna water, especially in the tail-end areas.
The water flow was a mere 1200 cusecs at M.18/0 of the ABC near Adavipalem on the Guntur-Prakasam border, the Collector noted.
He immediately spoke to NRBC Chief Engineer and Guntur District Superintending Engineer Ramana Rao and insisted that the water flow be stepped up to 2,000 cusecs to ensure water to tail-end areas.
Meeting today
He convened a joint meeting of agriculture and irrigation officials on Wednesday to chalk out an action plan to make the optimum use of the 27 tmcft of Krishna water allocated for the district by the Krishna Water Management Board and as suggested by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Meanwhile, Prakasam District Development Forum president Ch. Ranga Rao said the Nagarjuna Sagar project canal system in the district faced neglect over a period resulting in water shortage.
In any given year, the farmers were able to cultivate crops only in about 2.5 lakh acres as against the full ayacut of 4.44 lakh acres.
