Uma-Vamsi fight proves boon for upland farmers

Vijayawada: The running feud between Water Resources Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao and the ruling TDP MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsimohan of Gannavaram in Krishna district has turned out to be a windfall for farmers in Gannavaram constituency.

• Ignoring Water Resource Minister Uma Maheswara Rao’s orders against diversion of Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme water, his long- time rival in the party Vallabbaneni Vamsi diverts water with 200 oil engines for his Gannavaram constituency in Krishna district
• The water will irrigate 30k acre, hitherto considered upland, in Gannavaram constituency besides meets the drinking water needs of many villages

Even as the intra-party squabbles between the two senior leaders from the ruling party seems to have spilled over to drawl of water from the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, Vamsi is said to be bent upon going the extra mile to benefit his constituency farmers to the hilt. The rivalry between the two fuelled a game of one-upmanship in the TDP when it was in the opposition.

Uma tried his best to stall Vamsi entering the portals of the Assembly in 2014 elections in his capacity as the party district president, but failed. As per the guidelines of the Irrigation department, the Pattiseema lift scheme is intended to transfer of 80 tmc ft of Godavari water into River Krishna. Any attempt to divert water from the canal is an offence as per the guidelines of the Irrigation department.

Ignoring the Minister’s reported warnings against water diversion, his party MLA procured more than 200 oil engines by investing Rs 2 crore to pump water from the Pattiseema canal into several irrigation tanks in his constituency. Entire tract with 30,000 acres in the constituency is considered upland without any assured irrigation source till the launch of the Pattiseema scheme.

Mango, vegetables and paddy are cultivated in the area. There are 70 irrigation tanks, some major tanks spread over 500-1,000acres. With water in the tanks to their brims, the farmers in Vijayawada Rural, Gannavaram, Ungutur and Bapulapadu mandals falling under Gannavaram Assembly constituency, are getting ready for rabi crops with renewed hopes.

The irrigation aspect apart, Vamsi, known for his brashness, provided a pipeline from the lift canal to a storage tank at Nunna to quench the thirst of people from villages in and around Nunna in his constituency. “What Vamsi has done is not acceptable from the Irrigation department point of view.

But it is beneficial to the farmers in the constituency,” said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a programme in Gannavaram conWith his ‘candid’ deed, although a ‘misdeed’ in the eyes of his rival and Water Resources Minister, Vamsi is being treated by his constituency people as a ‘waterman’ of the area cutting across party lines.

The Irrigation authorities are discharging 8,000 cusecs of water into the lift canal from Godavari on a daily basis. After the seepage losses, half the water is reaching Krishna at the confluence point which the government named as Pavitra Sangamam near Ibrahimpatnam.

The TDP government undertook the lift scheme at a cost of Rs 2,120 crore on a priority basis to meet the irrigation and drinking water needs in the Krishna delta on the ground that the Polavaram dam will still take some more time for realisation.

When the farmers in Gannavaram are happy over the deeds of their MLA, the scene in the Minister’s native constituency of Mylavaram located at the tail-end of the Nagarjunasagar project (NSP) left main canal is a picture in contrast.

The Mylavaram Assembly constituency with 75,000 acres agricultural land is starved of water after the Krishna goes dry. In a bid to ensure his political survival in his constituency in the next election, Uma Maheswara Rao successfully lobbied with the Chief Minister for sanction of another lift scheme, as an extension to Pattiseema lift scheme.

The proposed scheme, under execution, intends to pump water from the Pattiseema canal at Guddigudem near Chintalapudi in West Godavari district into the NSP left canal.stituency a few days ago.

By Dasari Srinivasa Rao