Farmers of Andhra Pradesh would have suffered irreparable loss if the Telugu Desam Party buckled under criticism of rival political parties and failed to build the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project (PLIP), said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday.
Addressing the media after releasing Godavari water pumped by the PLIP to the Krishna Eastern Delta from the Prakasam Barrage here, Mr. Naidu recalled how several political leaders had challenged him when he proposed the construction of the PLIP to provide timely water to 13 lakh acres spanning across four coastal districts. “They said it was impossible to build the scheme in one year and some of them offered to take political sanyas if the project was completed in the stipulated time,” Mr. Naidu said.
‘Delay dangerous’
Twelve pumps of the PLIP were switched on to lift water from the Godavari into the Polavaram Right Main Canal (PRMC) a few days ago. About two tmcft is said to have reached the Prakasam Barrage since then. This was necessary because no water is being released from Nagarjunasagar as all reservoirs on the Krishna are almost empty.
If water is released late, cyclones that usually ravage coastal Andhra during November, will cause losses to farmers. Because there was no water in the Krishna there was ingress of salinity into groundwater in coastal areas, Mr. Naidu explained.
Political rivals created obstacles for land acquisition needed for the completion of the PRMC, he charged. The land owners could however be convinced with a generous compensation and the Godavari and the Krishna could be linked. Every year between 2,500 and 3,000 tmcft of Godavari water was going waste into the sea. With the PLIP, 80 tmcft could be diverted to Krishna delta on time this year, he said.
The linking of the two rivers yielded such great results that farmers of Karamchedu in Prakasam district thanked him as they got double the yield in just one crop.
Mr. Naidu said the progress of various irrigation projects was being closely monitored.
He personally reviewed progress in the Polavaram project every Monday, he pointed out.
112-year-old head sluice
Mr. Naidu said the head sluice from which he released water to the Krishna Eastern Delta was 112 years old.
And this was the last time that water would be released from it because the newly constructed head regulator would be commissioned from the next season. Mr. Naidu said he felt tremendously honoured that he could release water on Id, a day of celebration for Muslim brethren.
