Water release from Nagarjuna Sagar are being regulated in view of precarious storage levels in the reservoir, Minister for Civil Supplies Prathipati Pulla Rao said here on Friday.
With the district experiencing a deficit rainfall of 37% and the inflows becoming lesser, the district administration has decided to implement ‘Vara Bandi,’ a system to regulate water releases into NSP right canal, Mr. Pulla Rao said at the general body meeting of Zilla Parishad held here. The Minister made the comments after the ZPTC members of the YSRCP raised the issue during a general discussion. The members said that farmers in the tail-end areas of NSP Right Canal continue to be deprived of water. Paddy crop which is ready for harvest is also being affected by the dry spell, they said.
Dwindling inflows
Explaining the reasons behind the decision to regulate outflow of water, District Collector Kona Sasidhar said that prolonged dry spell during September-October and the dwindling inflows into the reservoir prompted the Irrigation Department to come out with an action plan. The Irrigation Advisory Board, which met recently, decided to regulate the water flow to save standing crop in 1.66 lakh acres of paddy and 4 lakh acres of Irrigated Dry crops. “Farmers have been given time until October 25 to take up farming activity but with the precarious storage levels in the reservoir, we have decided to implement ‘vara bandi,’ scheme,” said Mr. Sasidhar.
Earlier, members cutting across party lines came out strongly against the bankers for not extending crop loans to tenant farmers. Raising the issue, Tadikonda MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar said that though most tenant farmers have been given Loan Eligibility Cards (LEC), many of them have not received crop loans. Further, the bankers have been behaving in a high handed manner with farmers, he said. Intervening in the discussion, the Collector said that bankers have a mandate to provide crop loans to tenant farmers grouped under Joint Liability Groups and Rythu Mithra Groups. While the bankers were able to meet targets of crop loans, they had not met the expectations in case of tenant farmers, he said adding that he would review the issue thoroughly.
Minister for Social Welfare Nakka Ananda Babu said that farmers in Krishna Western Delta were able to cultivate lands due to availability of water under Pattiseema scheme.
ZP Chairperson Shaik Johnymoon and CEO Surya Prakash were present.
