Three things continue to linger on one’s mind after they travel through the Godavari Delta. The rushing waters of the canals of River Godavari that run along the vast stretches of paddy fields as far as the eye can see, the life-size statues of Sir Arthur Cotton on a horse, and the green canopy of coconut groves.
It would be hard to believe that these verdant lands were once severely drought-ridden, and it was a British Irrigation Engineer who changed the face of this Delta forever.
Around the 1880s, hit by severe drought and famine, scores of families in and around Rajahmundry resorted to selling their girls for survival. Back then, it was not uncommon to see girls being put up for sale at the weekly shandies. Many families were forced to migrate to other South Indian States, mostly Hyderabad and Chennai to make ends meet.
It was also the time when the export of textiles from the region collapsed from a hefty ₹14 lakh turnover in 1830 to barely ₹2 lakh by the early 1840s.
The end of miseries began with the British government, upon recommendations of the higher authorities, sent Visakhapatnam-based Irrigation Engineer Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton to the then Rajahmundry district to find solutions to the frequent famines that had been ravaging the Godavari Delta.
‘Better than Kaveri Delta’
In his maiden field report submitted in August 1844, Sir Arthur Cotton observed: “Compared to the Kaveri Delta, the Godavari Delta is very small in size. However, the Godavari Delta’s soil fertility, rainfall, and productivity are far better than the Kaveri Delta and any other pockets in India”.
A portrait of boat crossing Vijjeswaram locks in the Godavari delta irrigation system (Left). A portrait workers on the site during the construction of the barrage at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram in East Godavari district (Right). The portraits are in display at Sir Arthur Cotton museum at Dowleswaram. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Sir Arthur Cotton has proposed an anicut on the Godavari to be built with an estimated cost of ₹16.5 lakh with the prime aim of irrigating the land, which is nearly 25 feet above the river. The cost included ₹4 lakh for the anicut construction and ₹5 lakh for the two main canals.
While he sought six officers or an eight-member crew to assist him in the execution of the project, the then British government deployed only a junior officer and two trainee surveyors for the job.
However, Sir Cotton remained dedicated and resolute to giving the Delta the much-needed Godavari water. In a letter to his brother Frediric Cotton in January 1845, Sir Arthur Cotton writes: “I was not able to respond to your letter as I was busy in the technical investigations on the River Godavari on a horse, beginning from Papikonda hills to confluence points of River Godavari”.
Project to transform
Urging the then government to take the project seriously, Sir Arthur Cotton writes in his proposal to the British government: “The anicut works should be done on a military tradition by entrusting the gigantic mission to a single Engineer-cum-Officer. If it is assigned to the local Revenue officials, not even a single lock could be built in a year”.
In December 1846, the project was approved by the Court of Directors in London, with the sanction of the first instalment of ₹4.75 lakh. In early 1847, the construction of the anicut was kick-started at Dowleswaram. Initially, a whopping 10,000 workers a day were deployed on the project. In March 1852, the construction of the anicut was completed.
The house of Sir Arthur Cotton on the Bommuru hill near Rajamahendravaram city in East Godavari district. | Photo Credit: T. Appala Naidu
Delta Silpi, a book published by the Andhra Pradesh government in the recent past, highlights Sir Cotton’s commitment towards the completion of the project: “For one-and-half years, Arthur Cotton lived in a thatched house built of palm leaves, along with his family, on the banks of River Godavari at Dowleswaram.” Later, he shifted to shift to a pucca house that still stands on a hill at Bommuru.
For over a century, the course of the fate of the Godavari Delta has transformed nearly four lakh acres of land, which never fell short of irrigation. By 1982, a barrage titled Sir Arthur Cotton was commissioned here to irrigate a larger 10.16 lakh acres.
A view of Rajamahendravaram city from the house of Sir Arthur Cotton on Bommuru hill near Rajamahendravaram city in East Godavari district. | Photo Credit: T. Appala Naidu
Famine survivors to leading producers
Recalling Sir Cotton’s contribution to the region, East Godavari Zilla Parishad Chairperson Vipparthi Venu Gopal says, “The Godavari Delta has two tales of history; one speaks of the age when rice was a luxury for locals, who later emerged as leading rice producers in India. It was Sir Arthur Cotton who brought the river to the mouth of the Delta, which is indebted to this human being forever.” Mr. Venu Gopal is the retired Superintendent Engineer of the Godavari Delta System.
“Before Sir Cotton’s arrival, maize was the staple food for locals, not rice. A century later, the Godavari Delta is known for being the leading producer of rice, banana, and coconut,” Mr. Venu Gopal tells The Hindu.
Today, the Godavari Delta is known for its diversity of crops and food. Above all, Pulasa fish, which is dubbed as the signature fish species of Andhra Pradesh, is caught at Dowleswaram. The Godavari Delta still depends on water-borne trade, chiefly for the transportation of sand, a major revenue contributor to the Andhra Pradesh State government.
Remembered, revered for eternity
Sir Arthur Cotton breathed his last in 1899 on the Godavari Delta but is remembered with reverence by its people. Such is their veneration for him that his name is even mentioned in their sacred hymns here.
Cotton Barrage Farmers Foundation founder chairman Nekkanti Srinivas says: “In the ceremonies associated with the death performed in any family in the Delta, mostly in the Konaseema region, priests are asked to make a mention of Sir Arthur Cotton in their hymns, in which the recital goes with the stanza ‘May Cotton’s soul rest in peace’.
