The Uttarandhra Irrigation Projects Sadhana Samiti wanted the State government to immediately take up the Purushottampatnam lift and complete Polavaram left main canal up to Visakhapatnam to provide water for 2.5 lakh acres in East Godavari and 1.5 lakh acres in Visakhapatnam district along with drinking water.
A team of the Saadhana Samiti, consisting of former Minister and MP Konathala Ramakrishna, CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy, government advisor and former Chief Engineer S. Satyanarayana, retired Chief Engineer Ch. Satyanarayana and farmers representatives, visited the point where the Purushottampatnam lift would be constructed, Yeleru canal, Polavaram left main canal and its crossing point, Kateru lift point, Gopalapatnam tank, Panjeru tank and Krishnapalem tank on Saturday.
Later the Samiti repeated its demand to take up and complete Purushottampatnam lift on a war-footing, since the first phase of it has received administrative sanction in 2009 under the Babu Jagjivan Ram Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi project. There is no need to wait till Polavaram project is completed since it would take at least 10 years for completion.
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The first phase is constructing the Purushottampatnam lift, completing Polavaram LMC up to 58 km and connect it to the Yeleru, pump 1400 cusecs of water into the Yeleru reservoir from here to make it an additional storage reservoir to release water whenever necessary to the Yeleru ayacut and Visakhapatnam. Second phase should be completing Polavaram LMC from 58{+t}{+h}km to 162{+n}{+d}km (near Tallapalem) and connect it to the present Yeleru supply canal. Along with it eight transit reservoirs to store 10 tmc of water must be created along with Polavaram LMC. The third phase should be to extend the LMC to irrigate 8 lakh acres in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts under the Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi.
Mr. Ramakrishna after the tour pointed out the pathetic state of Sitanagaram, Krishnavaram, Yeleru and other areas not getting irrigation water or drinking water in spite of the Yeleru, Polavaram and Pushkara canals passing through them.
Mr. Ramakrishna and Mr. Satyanarayana Murthy said it was imperative on the part of government to take up and complete the Purushottampatnam lift on the lines of Pattiseema on the Polavaram right main canal and that the lift should continue even after Polavaram project is completed.
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Sitanagaram, Krishnavaram, Yeleru and other areas are not getting irrigation and drinking water.
Konathala Ramakrishna
Former Minister