: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, on the second day of his three-day visit to drought-stricken Anantapur district to oversee rain gun operations, said tanks in the district would be filled with water from the HNSS project.
Mr. Naidu positively responded to the request made by farmers in this regard at a public meeting at Veerapuram in Gummagatta mandal on Wednesday.
The farmers told Mr. Naidu that groundwater levels would improve if the tank near their village is filled. Health Minister Kamineni Srinivasa Rao and TDP chief whip and Rayadurgam legislator Kalava Srinivasulu were present.
The Chief Minister, who reached the village almost three hours behind schedule, went straight to the fields where he observed rain gun operations. He interacted with farmers and enquired about the condition of the crop.
Later at the public meeting, he called farmers on to the dais one after the another and asked them if they had dug a farm pond and whether or not they had ever thought that providing a wetting to their fields in such a way was even possible.
“I dug a farm pond in my two-acre plot. It helped me when the rain gun arrived,” said a farmer. Mr. Naidu, on coming to know that the village has less than 60 farm ponds for about 2,000 acres of farmland, urged the farmers to dig them in a big way.
"I will ensure that crop in every acre of land is saved but you need to believe me and cooperate by digging more farm ponds,” he said.
