Madduvalasa farmers demand water for tail-end lands

Vizianagaram : The irrigation officials have visited the tail-end farms and are taking steps to provide water to the paddy fields under Madduvalasa reservoir.

Actually the tail-end farmers of Madduvalasa reservoir are struggling a lot to save their paddy fields which are getting dried up due to lack of irrigation water. They have been working a lot to get water to their fields to save the crops. Actually Madduvalasa project was constructed on Vegavathi river in 2002 and is aimed at providing irrigation facility to 23,000 acres of land.

But due to negligence in maintenance, the water supplying channels are completely covered by bushes and unwanted plants. Usually, the farmers complete the transplantation of paddy during rainy season but the fields need water ahead of the harvest and the farmers hope that they would get water from Madduvalasa reservoir.

But due to various reasons, the water supply through the channels is not getting materialised.

As a result the farmers in the villages of Seshadripuram, Balarampeta, Siripuram, Janakipuram and Ranganathapeta in Santhakaviti mandal are worried about their crops.

As a result they have been purchasing the water from the borewells of other farmers by paying money and it results in additional expenditure for them. Around 2,000 acres of fields have been facing the same situation.

Finally, the farmers fed up with irrigation officials, met Collector BR Ambedkar and requested him to address the issue and provide the water to the tail-end farms in their villages.

They explained that the channels are completely being blocked with bushes and obstructing the water flow and they need to be removed and water supply to be restored.

They appealed to him to understand their issue with kind heart and summon the irrigation staff to sort out the issue. The Collector assured them that he would look into the issue and instructed the irrigation staff to visit the ayacut area and solve the issue.

Based on the instructions given by the Collector, the irrigation officials have visited Siripura, Seshadripura and Appalaagraharam villages and reviewed the situation and interacted with farmers. They said that they will submit a detailed report on this issue and will act according to the instructions of the higher officials.