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Yeleru ryots lay siege to ZP office

By Our Staff Reporter

Rajahmundry Jan.25. Irate ayacutdars of the Yeleru who gathered in their hundreds laid a siege to the Zilla Parishad office in Kakinada on Saturday, demanding release of sufficient water to save the standing crop, mostly sugarcane and banana gardens under the Yeleru ayacut.

The situation was such that the proceedings of the ZPP-- the meeting was convened to approve the ZP budget -- had to be stopped. On one side of the gate which was closed, there were the shouting farmers and on the other side there was the ZP chairman, Janardhana Rao, the Collector,K.S. Jawahar Reddy, the MP, Vanga Gita, MLAs, Jyothula Nehru, Bandaru Satyananda Rao, trying to pacify them. Jostling and pushing, between the lathi-wielding police and shouting ayacutdars continued for more than an hour outside the gate when, the ZP chairman and the Collector came out and tried to pacify the agitated farmers. Then representatives of the ayacutdars, G. Achyuta Ramayya, MPP Peddapuram, Venkata Krishna Maddhava Rao, ZPTC member Pithapuram who led the agitation held discussions with Dr. Jawahar Reddy and the Jaggampeta MLA, Jyothula Nehru, and officials that included the SE of the Yeleru Project and the SE (Irrigation) Dowleswaram.

Here also there were heated arguments and some farmers used harsh words against officials for misleading the Government. There was no agreement on the extent of standing crop to be protected. While officials said it was only about 10,000 acres, farmers asserted that it was more than 30,000 acres. It was at this point that the former MP, Thota Gopalakrishna, and Pantham Gandhi who led the protest reacted sharply and asked as to why, in an affidavit, officials had said only 2,000 acres of standing crop was there. Officials seem to have been cornered, for there was no reply to this.

The arguments continued for more than two hours. Farmers demanded immediate stoppage of water supply to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and enhanced release of water to save the standing crop. However officials said that there was only three tmcft of water available and it had to be used sparingly keeping in view the drinking water requirements of people spread over 35 villages in three mandals. It was for the Government to take a decision on stopping supply of water to the VSP.

At present 50 MGD (million gallons a day) was being released for the VSP. For the ayacut 100 cusecs is being released. The demand of farmers was to increase the supply to 150 cusecs. Finally an agreement was reached, according to which, the entire ayacut area has been divided into three zones, namely tail end, upland and head reaches and each zone would get water for six days. The head reach (up to to Timmapuram) would get 110 cusecs, followed by the second reach (between Timmapuram and Divili) 130 cusecs and finally the tail end 150 cusecs.

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