Wanaparthy: Farmers, fishermen rejoice as Krishna waters fill Nalla Cheruvu

Wanaparthy: With the Nalla Cheruvu lake in Wanaparthy district filled to its brim with Krishna river waters, Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy offered prayers on the mini-tank bund of the lake on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Singireddy said as promised a few years ago, he had worked towards keeping his word. "A few years ago, I said I will not rest until Wanaparthy district gets Krishna river water. Today, I am really happy that I have kept my word and achieved the goal of getting water to the district headquarter. It was not an easy task, we had worked day in and day out making plans and strategies and finally today, the results of our hard work are bearing fruits. Nalla Cheruvu lake will help enhance the income levels of local farmers, fisherman and it would also improve tourism in the district," said the Agriculture Minister.

He also expressed his concern that during the reign of Wanaparthy rulers, the Nalla Cheruvu used to be a huge lake spread in over 120 acres. However, over the decades, because of neglect of subsequent governments in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the lakes in Telangana became defunct and taking this as an advantage, many people had encroached the lands of lakes.

The Minster promised that with Nalla Cheruvu getting Krishna river water, the overflowing water from this lake would be released into two more lakes, Talla Cheruvu and Edula Cheruvu. These two lakes are undergoing repairs and constructions, once they come into existence, then the entire Wanaparthy region would have sufficient water for irrigation and for rearing fish.

At present with Nalla Cheruvu filled to the brim, the bore wells in a radius of 4 kilometre of the lake would be recharged and help the farmers get adequate irrigation water, said the Minister, informing that that by next Kharif, Talla Cheruvu and Edula Cheruvu lakes would also be filled with Krishna river water and it would further enhance the livelihood of fishermen in the district.

Ramesh Goud, former municipal chairman of Wanaparthy, Wakati Sridhar, former councillor, Gattu Yadav and others took part in the programme.