3.21 lakh acre to get water from Somasila
Nellore: Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said 3 tmcft of water from the total of 42 tmcft from Somasila reservoir will be allocated to drinking water needs.
Participating in the Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) meeting here on Thursday, the Minister stated 31 tmcft of water from Somasila would be utilised for irrigation of 3.21 lakh acres during this season considering dead storage level.
IAB meeting would be organised once again in the next 10 days to discuss all issues in detail, he mentioned and said that a decision was taken to provide water for 50 per cent ayacut under Kavali canal, Left and South canals and Kanupuru canal.
The Minister said that 13 tmcft of water is available in Kandaleru reservoir in which 2.04 tmcft of water will be supplied to Kandaleru lift irrigation system. The Board also decided to supply drinking water to Chennai, Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Satyavedu, Gudur, Sullurpeta and Venkatagiri, Somireddy said.
The Minister stated that the district had received 61 per cent deficit rainfall this year and it was 63 per cent last year. Further, MLAs of ruling party have staged a protest during the IAB meeting, demanding to allocate drinking water to their constituencies. Gudur MLA P Sunil Kumar and Venkatagiri MLA Kurugondla Ramakrishna of TDP have asked the Minister to allocate water at least for drinking purpose in their constituencies.
TDP MLA K Ramakrishna and YSRCP legislator K Sanjeevaiah asked the Board not to allocate water from Kandaleru reservoir keeping in view of severe scarcity of water in their regions. MLA P Srinivasulu Reddy from Kovur constituency said there is a need to allocate water for cultivation of delta lands in this season.
YSRCP Rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar alleged that authorities had failed to provide drinking water to Nellore city and also to rural areas continuously. He also alleged that majority irrigation canals were converted into drains. He asked the officials to supply drinking water to rural areas.