Releasing water for second crop is new era: Anam

Nellore: Endowments Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy has said that releasing water for the second crop (early Kharif) is a new chapter in the history of Nellore district. On Wednesday, he released 60 tmcft of water for 5.2 lakh acres for agriculture operations in the erstwhile district from Somasila Reservoir.

The Minister disclosed that apart from the decision taken during the recently held Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) meeting, it was proposed to allocate 44 tmcft of water to 3.6 lakh acres under Somasila reservoir and 16 tmcft for 1.6 lakh acres through Kandaleru (Telugu Ganga Project) in erstwhile Nellore district.

Anam said that water release would be continued from today till conclusion of second crop.

Recalling that he has been attending IAB meetings for the last 35 years, he pointed out that all these years, water was released just for 1.6 lakh acres for various reasons including due to lack of proper water management procedures.

The Minister has pointed out that during YSRCP regime, there was regional imbalances between the farmers irrigating crops in Delta (wet land) and non-delta (dry land) areas witnessed duo to failure of proper water distribution during second crop.

He claimed that after coming to power by 2024 elections, the NDA government released water to 5.5 lakh acres for the benefit of farmers in both Nellore and some extent of Chittoor districts for agriculture operations.

Disclosing that right now there is 100 tmcft of water available in both Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs, the Minister appealed farmers to support the administration by adopting proper water management procedures so that water will reach tail end lands.

As per the IAB decision, it was proposed to allocate 12 tmcft of water for drinking water purpose in peak summer, he added.

Somasila Penna Delta Committee Chairmans Kesev Chowdary, Rajgopal, Atmakuru RDO Pavani Somasila SE Venkataramana Reddy and others were present.