KURNOOL: Farmers will stage a 13-km-long padayatra from Pulikanuma reservoir in Peddakabadur mandal to Satanur pump house at Kosigi in Kurnool district on October 19 demanding completion of the remaining two per cent work to make the reservoir operational, Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Committee convenor Bojja Dasaratharami Reddy said on Tuesday.
Pulikanuma reservoir was conceived in 1999 to stabilise Tungabhadra Low-Level Canal as silting led to loss of five tmcft of water, Mr. Reddy told the media in Kurnool. The government approved the detailed project report of the reservoir with a capacity of 1.23 tmcft, allotted Rs. 261 crore and completed about 98 per cent of works two years ago.
As per the design, the reservoir would be filled if 300 cusecs of water was pumped for 60 days and would irrigate 26,400 acres of land in Peddakabadur, Nandavaram, Yemmiganur, Gonegandla, C. Belagal, Gudur and Kodumur mandals and supply drinking water to several villages. However, a 132 kv electrical sub-station was not built for two years, leaving the reservoir in an inoperative stage, Mr. Dasaratharami Reddy said.
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When the Tungabhadra LLC flow decreases, water can be drawn to the ayacut lands in Kowthalam and Kosigi mandals, on the upstream of LLC, besides catering to the year-long drinking water needs of Kosigi town. Construction of a lift-irrigation scheme at Marlamadi would benefit farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka up to the 250-km. point, Mr. Dasaratharami Reddy said.
Rayalaseema Joint Action Committee convenor Somsekhar Sarma and Rayalaseema Vidyavanthula Vedika convenor Arun were present.