Krishna water filling 60 village tanks in undivided Anantapur dist

Anantapur-Puttaparthi: The arrival of Krishna waters to the undivided Anantapur district through Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) project is welcomed by the farmers of the district. The water is presently filling more than 60 village tanks spread in Anantapur and Sri Sathya Sai districts. There are 400 minor irrigation tanks of Sri Krishnadevaraya era in the district and the HNSS project is originally designed to fill the revived village tanks. If HNSS fills village tanks as promised, then every village would get its own water resources. Filling of minor irrigation tanks contributes to recharging of groundwater, supply of drinking water and irrigation to the local ayacut areas.

Krishna water is set to fill 28 tanks in Raptadu, six in Guntakal, one in Singanamala, 23 in Uravakonda and one tank each in Rayadurg and Dharmavaram. These together caters to the irrigation needs of 14,000 acres.

The village tanks have expanded the crops ayacut by 10 per cent and also promoting fish culture and thereby boosting village economy.

The HNSS project first phase was designed to extend irrigation facility to 1.18 lakh acres and supply drinking water to more than four lakh population in the district. Under the second phase, it was designed to irrigate 2.27 lakh acres and drinking water to 16 lakh population.

The HNSS canal links Handri, Penna, Chitravathi, Papagni, Mandavya, Bahuda, Cheyyeru, Gargeya, Vedavati, Palar rivers and many others in Rayalaseema region.