1,468 village tanks in Anantapur need urgent repair works
A breached village tank being repaired near Tadipatri
Anantapur: There are 1,468 village tanks in the district out of which 550 tank bunds suffered damage and have weakened over the years due to the vagaries of nature. The tanks of Penukonda, Raptadu, Dharmavaream, Kadiri, Madakasira, Kalyandurgam, Puttaparthi and Rayadurgam are in a precarious state and need immediate attention.
In Kadiri region alone, there are 250 village tanks and half of them are in a bad shape and need of repairs. The tank gates and shutters are completely rusted and cannot be operated in times of emergencies. Despite appeals by people and farmers to take up permanent measures, officials are only reacting to an emergency but are not acting in time.
Most of these tank bunds and irrigation equipment like gates and shutters had been badly mauled by years of rainfall and occasional floods and repairs have to be done on an emergency basis. Irrigation officials admit that these tanks can store more water than major reservoirs like Chitravati, PABR and Penkakacherla reservoirs but they were being neglected and subjected to vagaries of nature.
Proposals had been sent to the government by the authorities for repairs of 550 village tanks at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore. During the past two years, no funds came from the government for taking up their repairs. The farmers in the district are urging the government to sanction the needed funds for taking up tank repairs on a massive scale.
There is no action plan for the government to take up repairs of weak or breached tanks before the onset of monsoon. Whenever tanks breach due to incessant rains, officials are rushing to the place and temporarily covering the breaches with sand bags but nothing is being done on a permanent basis.
Water Resources Superintendent Engineer Sudhakar told The Hans India that he was waiting for the government's response to the proposal for taking up repairs of tanks with weak infrastructure and that temporary measures have been taken to stop breaches of village tanks.