'No-Rabi' fiat worries ryots

Vijayawada: With AP government's announcement of 'No Rabi' this year too, the farmers went into disorientation. Public representatives and irrigation authorities have told the Krishna Delta farmers recently to choose alternate crops over paddy citing water shortage.

With this decision of the government, lakhs of farmers in Krishna, Guntur, Eluru and Prakasam districts which are under the Krishna Delta are worried. In fact, the farmers had high hopes over the government that they will get water for crops this Rabi season.

The farmers wonder why the government is not releasing water for Rabi even after the state receiving excess rains and rivers and tributaries witnessed floods. However, the authorities cited technical reasons in terms of giving water for the Rabi crop. They stated that till now about 118 TMC of water has been utilised against the sanctioned 155 TMC to the Krishna Delta by the Krishna River Water Management (KRMB).

The Krishna Delta has 13.07 lakh acres of ayacut, of which every year on average 10 lakh acres are cultivated with paddy only. As per the data, this year in Krishna Delta, paddy was cultivated in 10.35 acres, Aqua in 1.81 lakh acres and sugarcane in 23,000 acres. So far, 118.70 TMC of water has been used for these cultivations. On the other hand, Rabi needs another 51 TMC of water. At present, there is around 310 TMC of water storage in the Nagarjuna Sagar project.

The Pulichintala project has 41.05 TMC. The authorities said that another 36.20 TMC of water will be released this Kharif season for crops from Pulichinthala. So, the water level which has the Pulichintala does not support the farmers' needs if they cultivate paddy in the Rabi. However, the farmers have urged the government to release water by talking to the KRMB at least this year.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to construct two new barrages downstream of the Prakasam Barrage to utilize the surplus water which is submerged into the sea uselessly in 2020. This proposal was conceived during the TDP regime also. The proposed two barrages will be constructed at nearby Chodavaram village of Penamuluru Mandal at 12 km distance from the Prakasam Barrage downstream, and another located at Bobbarlanka village of Mopidevi mandal in Krishna district which has the distance 67 km from the Prakasam Barrage.