Delay in Kaddam project desiltation irks farmers in Nirmal
The desiltation of the Kaddam Narayana Reddy irrigation project in Nirmal has not begun even a year after agreement, affecting farmers. Delay in land identification for processing units has stalled work, raising concerns over irrigation for tail-end fields.
Nirmal: The much-awaited desiltation process of Kaddam Narayana Reddy irrigation project has not yet commenced even after completion of a year following the agreement between an executing agency and the irrigation department, reflecting official apathy and irking farmers.
The KNR irrigation project (popularly Kadem project) was built across the Kaddam river in 1958 with a storage capacity of 7.630 tmcs and an ayacut of 68,000 acres, situated mostly in Khanapur Assembly constituency and parts of Mancherial segment as well. It is regarded as a lifeline of Khanapur constituency for providing irrigation facility to farmers who grow paddy, maize and wheat crops and earn profits.
However, farmers said that tail-end fields were not being irrigated due to silt. The project is holding about 3.5 tmcft of water as against the capacity of 7.63 tmcft. Currently, the project is able to store over 3.5 tmcft of water, underlining the need for urgent removal of the silt. Accordingly, estimates were prepared and tenders were invited from firms to remove and process the silt. An agency from Rajasthan was also selected to take up the job.
The government took up the desiltation process not only in Kadem project, but also in Mid-Manair Dam and Lower-Manair Dam (LMD) of Karimnagar district. While the process began at MMD and LMD projects, desiltation in Kadem has not commenced. The reason was the apathy of the officials in identifying land required for establishing a unit to process the silt.
“The executing agency has not commenced the work due to delay in identification of 100 acres of land meant for creating the processing unit. Sand and earth extracted from the silt would be stored in 80 acres of land, while 20 acres of land is required for machinery to process the silt. However, the identification of the land was delayed, affecting the desiltation process,” a source said.
The Irrigation officials, it was said, have recently identified the land site needed for the processing unit at Ervachintala, Revojipet and Somvarpet villages. They stated that steps were being taken to commence the process and complete it at the earliest. The company was also issued two notices to start the process immediately.
Farmers said that the silt could easily be removed from the riverbed with the water level of the project plummeting in summer, particularly in April and May. They regretted that tail-end farms might not get water if the desiltation work was not begun by the end of April. They requested the officials to take steps to commence the work at the earliest.arliest.
