Two irrigation tanks at South Mopuru village in Nellore Rural mandal are facing encroachment threat even as the local farmers have started an agitation for the protection of the tanks that could save their crops.
The farmers alleged that local politicians and ‘strongmen’ were hand in glove to ensure that the tanks were not filled with water from Kanupuru canal. They breached Kanupuru canal to make sure that there would be no flow into the tanks. “We have brought the matter to the notice of the officials concerned in the past but there has been no action. Now, the encroachers are trying to occupy the tanks,” said Batta Venkateswara Rao, a farmer hailing from the village.
Memorandum submittedScores of villagers arrived here on Monday and submitted a memorandum to the officials at the Collectorate, making a strong appeal for immediate action. Mr. Rao said that the local farmers were even ready to immolate themselves for getting water for agricultural fields .
Nearly 1,000 acres were being irrigated by the two tanks even as the denial of water was causing frequent problems to their crops every year. Most of the farmers under these two tanks were small and marginal farmers. Another small farmer Unta Jayaramaiah said that there had been no action against the encroachers regardless of the fact that they had breached the Kanupuru canal to prevent water flow into the tanks. “Our livelihood is at stake. Only officials can save us,” he said.
