Karimnagar rural farmers let down by SRSP canal

Standing crops, especially paddy, have withered in a big way in villages.

Karimnagar: The Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) canal, which has been a major water source, for farmers in Karimnagar rural mandal, has let them down in the present Yasangi season.

The relation with the canal broke this time after ten years, as water was not released into the distributories that pass through the area, allegedly due to political interference. As a result, crops sowed in tail-end areas such as Chegurthi, Durshad, Mugdumpur, Nallaguntapalli, Mandulapalli and Erukulla are not getting adequate water. Standing crops, especially paddy, have withered in a big way in these villages. For instance, paddy was sown in 200 acres under a village tank named Bathukammakunta in Mugdumpur of Karimnagar rural mandal. Out of 200 acres, crop in 50 acres have already withered as the tank dried up due to lack of water supply from the SRSP canal.

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A farmer from the village, Kalagani Sampath sowed paddy in six acres. Of that four acres withered due to lack of water. Speaking to Telangana Today, Sampath said they used to get water from Bathukammakunta besides from agricultural wells. Unfortunately, both the water sources dried up in this season.

Bathukammakunta dried up due to lack of water supply from SRSP. Three agricultural wells that existed in the surrounding fields also dried up.

Another farmer, Bandi Sampath said crops would have survived if water was supplied for at least 15 to 20 days. The Rs.40,000 he invested to sow the paddy in an acre had gone waste.

Egurla Shankar from Erukulla informed that near Choppadandi, there were gates to release water into distributaries from the main canal. Water was released into downstream lands in Peddapalli constituency by not to Karimnagar. Farmers from the surrounding villages approached irrigation officials four times and asked them to release water but it is said officials did not do so since Peddapalli MLA Ch Vijayaramana Rao had locked the gates, the farmers said.