With the temperature touching 47 degree Celsius, the prevalence of blistering heat wave conditions has hit the ambitious ‘Mission Kakatiya’ programme in Karimnagar district for the past one week. The project involves reviving the minor irrigation tanks by removing the silt and strengthening of tank bund.
The officials involved in the programme were worried over the excavation of the silt by using the machines, as there are no farmers to collect the silt from the tank bed.
The Telangana government had decided to revive a total of 1,188 tanks in the first phase during this year in the district to provide an ayacut of over 1 lakh acres under the minor irrigation tanks. But, the farmers are not coming forward to collect the silt from the tank bed in spite of creating awareness about the importance of silt for better harvest as they were forced to shell out for the transportation of silt from the tank bed to the fields.
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Malla Reddy, a farmer from Chamanpalli village of Karimnagar mandal, said that the ‘Mission Kakatiya’ was going at a snail pace in their village due to prevailing heat wave conditions.
The farmers were unable to visit their fields to collect the silt from the tank sensing the wrath of sunstroke, he said and added that only few farmers were collecting the silt in the morning hours by paying Rs.100 to Rs. 200 per tractor trip.