Lands under Nagarjuna Sagar Project ayacut in Khammam to get Godavari waters in a couple of days

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said Godavari water will soon reach four mandals under the NSP ayacut in Khammam. While the Sitarama project water helps Khammam farmers, those in Kothagudem protest the diversion, demanding irrigation for their own farmlands

Khammam: Four mandals under the Nagarjuna Sagar Project ayacut in Khammam district would get Godavari waters in a couple of days, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said.

He said paddy nurseries and fields in the mandals were facing problems due to the lack of water supply from Palair, as an under-tunnel of the NSP left canal was under construction. Water from the Sitarama project was released on Saturday as an alternate arrangement.

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It could help farmers under the Sagar ayacut in Wyra, Penuballi, Tallada, and Kallur mandals, besides boosting the groundwater level with the release of water from the first pumphouse at BG Kothur in Aswapuram mandal in Kothagudem district.

Steps were being taken to ensure irrigation for about 1.50 lakh acres in the next season in Pinapaka, Kothagudem, Aswaraopet, Wyra, and Sathupalli constituencies. The State government has approved the construction of distributary canals, and funds for the acquisition would be provided. It could benefit nearly 25,000 to 50,000 acres in each Assembly constituency in Kothagudem district, Nageswara Rao said.

Meanwhile, farmers in Kothagudem were expressing serious concerns over diverting Sitarama waters to Khammam instead of irrigating the lands in the district. It might be recalled that the BRS leaders staged a protest recently demanding that the government take immediate steps to supply water to agricultural lands in Kothagudem.