The villagers of Kommala in Geesukonda mandal celebrated the first of its kind event held in their village. They all gathered to see their village tank getting spruced up.
‘Great work’
Guguloth Bakkulu, an elderly farmer was all smiles. “The government is doing great work . We have been waiting for decades for the tank to be desilted so as to improve its water holding capacity,” he told The Hindu.
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Three cranes were deployed for digging the earth from the middle of the tank while tractors were lined up to transport the silt to the agricultural fields of farmers. And for the farmers, it was double joy as they were getting the silt for free to enrich their fields which in turn will increase the output and secondly, they are happy to see the tank being revived.
V Vona Reddy overseeing the work said that it was a big task and would not be possible for a little group of people or private agency to handles it. The State government had taken the right decision to desilt all tanks. “This is the real help the farmers have been waiting for. The tank not only holds water but revives the village economy by helping fishermen, washermen, shepherds and it helps recharge the ground water level all over the village,” he explained.
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Encroachments
The tank in Kommala is spread over 37 acres and it has 55 acres ayacut. Over the decades, the tank got silted. It was not holding water and is prone to encroachments from one side.
As it was included in Mission Kakatiya project, the government sanctioned work that envisages removal of silt in 400 metres wide and 100 metres length with 2.5 feet depth.
A villager D Babu Rao opined that they should have got more work so that major portion of the tank could be desilted at one go.
“This work continues for one month and after that we will request the Collector for some more work,” he said.