Thursday, Feb 20, 2003
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Andhra Pradesh
By Our Special Correspondent
The port city is going through a serious crisis on the drinking water supply front owing to scanty rainfall last monsoon. Farmers in the region are faced with the prospect of a huge crop loss due to non-release of water from reservoirs for irrigation. Mr. Naidu promised the delegation that work on the Godavari lift project to supply water to Vizag would commence in March and end by November. He said his Government was as keen as anyone else to augment water supply to Vizag because, among other things, Volkswagen company was evincing interest in setting up a car factory in the industrial city. Led by Konathala Ramakrishna, former Congress MP, who heads the Godavari Jala Sadhana Samithi, the delegation included the Leader of the Opposition, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the former BJP president, P.V. Chalapathi Rao, the Zilla Parishad chairman, V. Kantamma, the former MLA of CPI(M), M. Anjaneyulu, and the former Mayor, Sabbam Hari. Later, the samithi leaders went to the Raj Bhavan where they submitted a memorandum to the Governor, S.S. Barnala. The samithi leaders informed the Governor that the water problem had put obstacles to the industrial activity of the steel city as never before. They highlighted the woes of the people due to lack of water. Some of the other demands were leaving Raiwada, Tandava and Tadipudi reservoirs exclusively for irrigation and drinking water requirements of the rural masses, compensation for farmers who lost crops due to unavailability of water from Raiwada and Tandava reservoirs and developing Kondakarla, Kharjurapugedda and Yelamanchili tanks into balancing reservoirs to store at least 3 tmcft water. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Ramakrishna, while thanking the Chief Minister for his assurance, said the drinking water supply position in Vizag would have been comfortable this summer if only the Government had taken up the Godavari lift project last year. The Centre, on behalf of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, had offered full financial assistance for the project, he added. He suggested that the Government should give serious thought to setting up a gas-based power station to meet the power requirements of the project. Availability of natural gas would pose no problem considering the huge offshore reserves discovered recently by the Reliance group. Highlighting the seriousness of the water problem in Vizag, the memorandum said about 1.70 lakh acres under the regular ayacut had been affected while another 2.50 lakh acres was hit by the monsoon failure resulting in unemployment and migration. People of the city were getting drinking water supply on alternate days as important reservoirs such as Mudasaralova, Gambhiram and Gosthan had dried up. Besides, the steel plant was facing the threat of closure due to water shortage in the wake of the water level in Yeleru reservoir receding below the dead storage level. Even the Simhadri thermal project of the NTPC and other major industries such as the HPC refinery, Coromandel Fertilisers and Hindustan Zinc were likely to be affected. The only solution for resolving the crisis was to take up a fast track project to bring at least 15 tmcft of Godavari water, the memorandum said.
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