The government’s move to exploit the Godavari water by lift for irrigation in the Krishna delta and capital city requirements raises serious concern over the fate of Godavari delta with 10.27 lakh acres in East and West Godavari districts. On the heels of the Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao’s announcement over the lift scheme during a visit to Polavaram in November-end, a group of experts led by former Engineer-in-Chief Cherukuri Veeraiah undertook a feasibility study at the Polavaram project site on Friday. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is expected to lay a foundation stone for the lift project sometime in the second week of December.
According to official sources in the Irrigation Department, the lift scheme, estimated to cost Rs 1,270 cr, intended to pump 8,250 cusecs from the Godavari and supply the same to the Krishna delta through the Indira Sagar right main canal by way of storage in the Prakasam Barrage near Vijayawada. The proposal snowballs into a raging protest in East and West Godavari districts with a section of the ruling TDP, the Congress and the YSRC expressed their strong opposition. Former Minister Vatti Vasanthkumar of the Congress threatened to move the court in defence of the riparian rights of the Godavari delta if the government would go ahead with the proposal. M.V. Suryanarayana Raju of the Godavari Delta Parirakshana Samithi told The Hindu that efforts were under way for a joint action by the peasant leaders of the two Godavari districts against the move.
The Godavari delta requires 12,000 cusecs of water a day for every crop period lasting for four months. But the ayacut farmers have to contend with 8,000 cusecs released from the Dowleswaram Barrage as another 4,000 cusecs is exploited to meet upland requirements by a slew of lift schemes already under operation which include Tadipudi and Pushkaram. Rabi prospects come under threat almost every year in the Godavari delta in view of water shortage in the Godavari.
Daunting taskIt has become a daunting task for the administration to overcome the crisis during the season even after drawl of 40 tmc from Balimela reservoir and 13 tmc from upper Sileru towards the share of Andhra Pradesh.
Harinath, an expert on irrigation matters, urged the government to honour the riparian right of the Godavari delta by utilising the Krishna waters from the Pulichintala reservoir for the local irrigation and capital city requirements.
