Officials told to speed up bringing 35,000 hectares under drip

Anantapur: District Collector Kona Sasidhar has called upon micro irrigation officials to work tirelessly for realising the State government target of bringing 35,000 hectares under micro irrigation including drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation by February first week.

Addressing a review meeting with micro irrigation officials and company representatives here on Tuesday, Sasidhar said that if targets are not reached by February, micro irrigation officers would be taken to task.

He said a survey had been conducted by the officers and it was found that 48,141 farmers having 60,464 hectares in the district are yet to come under drip and sprinkler irrigation.

However, only 32,648 farmers came forward to bring 35,527 under micro irrigation. So far, 16,207 farmers have actually taken DDs and submitted to the office for processing their applications.

As on today, the Collector said only 47 per cent of the target has been achieved. There are 2 lakh agricultural bores in the district.

The Collector called upon the micro irrigation companies to take this as a social movement forward and not merely treat it as a government programme.

He said that in a drought prone district like Anantapur, one cannot afford to use water judiciously without drip and sprinklers.

APMIP State Project Director Surya Prakash, Project Director Venkateshwarlu and Horticulture Deputy Director Subbarayudu were present.