Mitigate water crisis in Udayagiri: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu

Nellore: Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu held a meeting with Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Drinking Water & Sanitation, and UP Singh, Secretary, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation on Monday and discussed various possible ways of providing drinking and irrigation water for the drought-prone Udayagiri area in the district.

The Vice-President has been talking to the people of Udayagiri constituency in the recent past from where he was earlier elected as MLA in 1978 for the first time.

While enquiring about the general wellbeing, they informed the Vice-President that groundwater levels in the area have depleted considerably, most of the tanks/borewells have dried up and various water supply schemes have not been serving the water needs to the fullest.

They also informed Venkaiah Naidu that this was the seventh consecutive year where there were no adequate rains in the region. Most of them requested Naidu to find out ways of getting water from Krishna basin or Somasila Reservoir.

Officials suggested to Vice-President that they would explore various options in consultation with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and would find the most feasible option. The Vice-President advised the Secretary, Water Resources to discuss with the Central Water Commission and find out about the technical feasibility.

He also suggested that the Detailed Project Report and the various ongoing efforts of the State government to mitigate the water crisis in the region including through the Water Grid Project could be studied.

After a preliminary assessment is made, the Vice-President advised that a delegation of senior officials from the Ministry of Jal Shakti as well as from NITI Aayog and Central Water Commission could visit the area and interact with the concerned stakeholders to understand the ground reality and suggest a way forward.