The Central government’s prestigious Jal Shakti Abhiyan has taken up serious steps to ensure groundwater recharge and perpetuate water conservation measures in Kadapa district.
Thirteen southern mandals of Vemula, Vempalli, Simhadripuram, Sambepalle, Rajampeta, Pullampet, Porumamilla, Penagalur, Obulavaripalle, Lingala, Kodur, Kamalapuram and Chinnamandem have been identified on a pilot basis for implementation of the project.
The abhiyan’s central nodal officer Suresh Kumar and Collector Ch. Hari Kiran toured some of the places in the area earmarked under the project.
“Every drop of rain water will be allowed to percolate into the ground, to recharge the water table.
“Strengthening the tanks and ponds to increase their holding capacity, building recharge pits near borewells and afforestation of watershed areas are the focus areas of the project,” Mr. Suresh Kumar said.
Stone laid
The team visited the ZP High School in Sambepalle mandal and inspected the high density plantation system adopted in the vicinity. At Devapatla PHC, they laid the foundation stone for a roof-water harvesting system and inspected the simple farming practices adopted at Motakatla village by using only cow dung, urine and some green manure under the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) concept.
Sixteen members at the district level and 934 activists at the field level were implementing the scheme in Kadapa, they were told.
District Water Management Agency (DWMA) Project Director Harihara Nath and Assistant PD M. Suresh provided details of the NREGA works to the team.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan Deputy Director Rekha, RWS Superintending Engineer Sanjiva Rao, Natural Farming project manager M. Nagaraju and DCMS chairman Vishnuvardhan Reddy were present.
