Speakers at a round-table conference organised by the Jana Chaitanya Vedika here have urged the Andhra Pradesh Government to expedite Veligonda, Gundlakamma and other ongoing irrigation projects to put the State on the path of prosperity.
Initiating a discussion at a round-table conference here on Saturday, Jana Chaitanya Vedika State president V. Lakshmana Reddy opined that Andhra Pradesh would have been prosperous had the State government earmarked at least one-third of the over ₹2.50 lakh crore spent of ‘Navaratnalu‘ welfare schemes on the ongoing 106 irrigation projects in the State.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Sripathy Prakasam pressed for the allocation of necessary funds on a top priority basis to complete the Veligonda project, which was in its fag end to ensure water to farmers in the drought-prone areas of Prakasam, Nellore and YSR districts.
Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangam Prakasam district Secretary Vadde Hanuma Reddy said ₹2.40 crore should be spent immediately to repair the third gate of the Gundalakamma project with a capacity to store 3.50 tmcft of water to stop the precious liquid going waste into the sea for the last 11 months.
Noted irrigation expert A. Bhavani Prasad said the absence of irrigation projects to tap the 540 tmcft of rainwater by constructing reservoirs proved to be a bane for ryots. Only 10.50 lakh acres of the 16.50 lakh acres of arable land in the Prakasam district had irrigation facilities.
Senior BJP leader and former Ongole MLA Edara Haribabu underscored the need for linking Godavari, Krishna and Penna rivers on a war-footing to end the water woes of the people on a permanent basis in the wake of dwindling inflows into river Krishna as during this water year.
Poura Samajam president G. Narasimha Rao lamented that a majority of the lift irrigation schemes on Musi, Paleru and Gundlakamma reservoirs taken up in the past, needed urgent repairs.
Confederation of AP Consumers Organisation (CAPCO) chairman M. Nageswara Rao said none of the promised big-ticket projects in the backward Prakasam district had seen the light of the day.
