GPS Canal is not supplying adequate irrigation water
PNS | VIJAYAWADA
Even though Krishna district has registered excess rainfall, farmers are facing severe shortage of irrigation water for the paddy crops in many areas. Some areas in NTR district have also been facing water scarcity. At this stage, farmers are trying to save their early-standing crops by removing the stagnant water using diesel motors, even though it is an expensive process.
Many farmlands have been parched in Mustabad, Savarigudem and surrounding villages in the Krishna district, and Nunna in the NTR district due to the lack of sufficient irrigation water facilities. This issue has been worrying farmers for the past 20 days. The Gollapudi Lift Irrigation Pumping Scheme (GPS) Canal is not supplying adequate irrigation water for protecting the paddy crops.
Farmers are worrying about their crops in these villages due to intense heat and scarcity of irrigation water. With the intensely hot sun, water in the farmlands is evaporating, farmers felt. Unless the Water Resources Department officials did not release irrigation water to the Gollapudi Lift Irrigation Pumping Scheme canal, otherwise paddy crops cannot be survived in these villages, farmers felt.
As many as 500 acres of paddy fields in Nunna and Mustabad villages are drying up due to the non-availability of irrigation water. In these villages, paddy fields have become splintered. Even though they are supplying water continuously through diesel motors by lifting from the canal, paddy plants have dried up, they complained.
Water Resources Dept neglected GPS Canal
These paddy fields are watered by the GPS Canal. However, as the Water Resources Department neglected the GPS Canal for the past few years, the water flow is not up to its capacity.
The GPS Canal is under the purview of the Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority. However, none of the officials has inspected the canal for many years.
In addition, the recently-constructed godowns of multinational companies (MNC) have affected the water flow in the canals. “Some of the MNCs closed the canals which are supplying water from the GPS Canal, but no one has taken action in this regard,” said K Koti Reddy, a farmer from Nunna. “Due to lack of irrigation water, we are removing the water stagnated in the canal using diesel motors. It will be an additional burden for us,” he felt.
Another farmer, Valluri Veeranjaneyulu, expressed unhappiness over the supply of irrigation water for the Kharif season. “Irrigation officials are saying that there is no shortage of water. There is plenty of water in the reservoirs. But, they did not release water to the GPS Canal from Krishna. Around 6,000 acres of paddy crops depend on this canal,” he said.
Excess rainfall in Krishna dist
In the recent rains, Krishna district received excess rainfall while NTR district received normal rainfall. According to the reports released by the Andhra Pradesh State Development of Planning Society (APSDPS), Krishna district has registered 490.80 mm of rainfall as against the normal of 390 mm. So far, this district has received 25.80 pc of excess rainfall, the report said.
Meanwhile, NTR district registered deficit rainfall by 15.30 pc. However, it was normal. As per the reports, NTR district has registered 395.50 mm of rainfall against the normal 466.90 mm. Pulichintala Project has 29 TMC of water against its total capacity of 45.77 TMC. There is a chance to release water to the canals, which the officials are not taking it seriously, the farmers alleged.
