Water for Krishna delta from Nagarjunasagar demanded

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, JULY 31. The Andhra Pradesh Rytu Sangham has demanded the Government to release water for the century-old Krishna delta from the Nagarjunasagar project honouring its riparian rights.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Sangham general secretary, Mr Kolli Nageswara Rao, wanted the Government to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the issue immediately. He pointed out that there is enough water in Nagarjunasagar project now to meet the needs of the Krishna delta for the entire kharif season. But the Government is not releasing the water considering the interests of Nagarjunasagar delta.

Water is now impounded to a level of 500 feet above mean sea level (MSL) at NS dam today, against its full reservoir level (FRL) of 590 feet. Water can be released for Krishna delta even from a level of 489 feet and even from 450 feet under extraordinary circumstances. Yet the Government is not releasing water because keeping the interests of Nagarjunasagar delta for which water can be released only from a height of 510 feet. So the Government is waiting for the water level to go up to 510 feet so that it can release water for both Krishna and NS deltas simultaneously.

Mr Nageswara Rao said that paddy crop was transplanted only on 3.54 lakh hectares till now, against 5.31 lakh hectares planted by the same time last year. Even the transplanted crop is withering for want of water. Farmers faced problems because the nurseries are becoming over-aged. So he wanted the Government to release water immediately for Krishna delta delinking it from the needs of NS delta. "It is not just to starve Krishna delta for the sake of NS delta. Farmers should be allowed to raise crops at least in Krishna delta so that there would be no shortage of foodgrains in the State." He said that it was ironical that Karnataka is releasing water from Alamatti for the sake of Andhra farmers even though they had no right over them. But the Andhra Pradesh Government is refusing to release water from NS project to Krishna delta even though it had right over them.

Mr Nageswara Rao criticised the Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, for releasing only Rs 140 crores to tackle the drought situation in 911 mandals in the State. The amount of Rs 57 crores earmarked for employment generation would be sufficient to provide work for 15 per cent of the population in the drought mandals for just one day. He demanded the Government to increase the allocation to provide work for 10 days. The sangham has given a call for dharnas on August 3 at mandal and divisional levels demanding an allocation of Rs 1 crore for every mandal for drought relief measures.

The Sangham leaders found to their chagrin that farmers are deserting their orchards raised against odds spending Rs 50,000 per acre over the last five years as all their efforts to strike groundwater proved futile in Kakkalapalli and other villages of Anantapur district. As there was no water in the borewells, they are not using their pumpsets. Yet, the electricity officials are harassing them to pay their bills with penalty of Rs 30,000 and filing police cases against them.

Though the groundnut farmers suffered heavy losses in Anantapur district due to pest attack last year, the Government supplied them diseased seeds this season adding to their woes. Though most of the farmers could not raise the crop within the stipulated time of July end for want of rains, there seems to be no alternative to them. The Government wanted them to raise alternative crops but gave them no contingency plan.

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