The district administration had drawn plans to avert farmers’ suicides by freeing them from the clutches of private moneylenders, persuading them to share existing borewells and desist from sinking borewells at will and become debt-ridden, District Collector Ch. Vijayamohan said on Tuesday.
Citing a study in Thengada village in Aspari mandal, the Collector said in the Zilla Parishad general body meeting here that farmers of the village owed debt of Rs. 5 crore to private moneylenders and were paying them interest to the tune of Rs. 1.30 crore per year.
Interest burden
He mooted introduction of ‘pavala vaddi’ loans to farmers in the village, which would bring down their interest burden to Rs. 9 lakh an year.
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Mr. Vijayamohan said 72 villages in Kurnool district were hit by failure of borewells and non-availability of irrigation water and the factors resulted in farmers committing suicide. He said plans were formulated to dig 100 farm ponds in each village to store three lakh litres and the programme would be taken up in Janmabhoomi - Maa Ooru programme from January 2 to 11. Saving 20 per cent of run-off water would save 160 tmc ft useful to irrigate 16 lakh acres, he said.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu approved his proposals to desilt 1,452 streams in Kurnool district, take up jungle clearance and construction of checkdams in them, restoration of minor irrigation tanks and eviction of tank encroachers, the Collector said. Two lakh acres of land was acquired under Handri Neeva project. Five streams would be desilted in each mandal.
Nandikotkur ZPTC member Prasad Reddy said farmers were spending Rs. 1 lakh each on erection of a transformer, electric motor and sinking a borewell and becoming debt-ridden, though groundwater level had depleted to 800 feet. He wanted compensation given to withered Bengal gram crop in rabi season.
Borewells in
command areas
The government approved sinking of 10,000 borewells in 432 villages in the command areas, where adequate ground water was available, the Collector said. Eighty per cent subsidy would be given for drilling a borewell, casing, fixing a motor etc., he added. Twenty to 30 borewells would be sunk in each village and beneficiaries would be identified in Janmabhoomi.
Banaganapalle MLA B.C. Janardhana Reddy wanted farm ponds dug in the fields of big farmers too. He said comprehensive protected water schemes were not being maintained by the contractors and public representatives were being pulled up by the people. Rural Water Supply SE assured revival of the works within a week.
Mr. Vijayamohan said 106 major tanks in Dhone, Alur and Pathikonda constituencies would be covered by lift-irrigation schemes.
Vijayamohan says 72 villages in the district are hit by failure of borewells and non-availability of irrigation water