Date:20/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/20/stories/2004072009340600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Hundreds lay siege to Prakasam barrage

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, JULY 19. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Federation of Farmers' Associations have demanded that the State Government order the release of 3,000 cusecs of water to the Krishna delta before July 21 to allow farmers to raise seedbeds.

Activists of the political parties and the federation laid siege to the Prakasam barrage here from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today to bring pressure on the Government to release water. The parties threatened to bring traffic on all highways in the State to a halt from July 21 if the Government did not concede their demand of releasing water to the Krishna delta.

The BJP initially demanded that water should be released from Alamatti reservoir to increase the level of water in the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs. And, water should be released to the Krishna delta only after the position improved in these two reservoirs. The BJP group sat aloof from the others for a long time raising slogans demanding release of water from Alamatti dam.

The TDP and the farmers' federation, however, demanded that water be released immediately from Nagarjuna Sagar even if it was from the dead storage and pressure be mounted on the Karnataka Government to release water from the Alamatti dam to increase the level of water in the two reservoirs in the State later. The BJP, however, also came around towards the end and demanded that water should be released to the Krishna delta on July 21.

The farmers' federation and political parties which participated in the protest took a decision on the spot to form a joint action committee for chalking out an agitation programme to achieve the demand for release of irrigation water.

Heavy security arrangements were made by the police to control the moderate gathering.