CPI(M), Cong. flayed for damaging water meters

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, AUG. 2. The Agriculture Minister, Mr. V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, has said that water meters are being installed on all major canals and distributaries by the Government as part of efforts to conserve water but not collect charges volumetrically as alleged by the Opposition parties. He said it would not be practicable to collect water charges on meter from farmers and it was not considered by the Government as of now.

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, he criticised the Congress and CPI(M) leaders for damaging the meters and misleading farmers that they were installed only to collect water charges volumetrically at the behest of the World Bank. Nothing can be farther from truth, he said. He particularly targeted the CPI(M) State secretary, Mr. B.V. Raghavulu, for leading the demonstrators to damage the meters. It is unfortunate that senior leaders like Mr. Raghavulu were resorting to such methods, he said.

Mr. Rao said the Government was now able to supply water to only 30 per cent of the total cultivable land available in the State and it costs Rs.1 lakh per hectare to create irrigation facility. So, the Government had decided to increase its irrigation efficiency from the present 35 to 57 per cent and provide water thus saved to gap ayacut in command areas. He pointed out that while the farmers in the upper reaches used more water than required, those in the tail-end areas suffered for want of water. It is commonplace in delta areas that more water flowed in drains than canals in the tail-end areas.

The Government constituted water users` committees to regulate the flow and ensure equitable supply to all the farmers. The Government has created an awareness among the farmers on how much water they required. Water meters are installed to supply water only to the extent of their requirement. This would facilitate tail-end areas get their requirement.

By these measures, the Government has been able to reduce the gap ayacut from 13 lakh acres to six lakh acres. He pointed out that the farmers are at present using 15,000 litres of water to produce one kg of rice against 6,000 litres used in demonstration farms. Laboratory conditions showed that 600 litres of water is sufficient to produce one kg of rice.

The Minister said it was the Vaidyanathan committee appointed by the then Prime Minister, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, which recommended that water charges should be collected from farmers volumetrically. It was the Communist China that implemented farm reforms more radically. It is ironical that the Congress and the CPI(M) opposed collection of water charges in the State even before the Government contemplated it. They are politicising a delicate issue unnecessarily and misleading farmers, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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