Telangana: Farmers decry water scarcity in SRSP Stage II ayacut

Stage protest on Suryapet-Dantalapalli main road against failure of Irrigation Department to ensure irrigation support to Rabi crops

Hyderabad: Farmers from Thungathurthy constituency in Suryapet district staged a demonstration on Suryapet-Dantalapalli main road in Nuthankal mandal against the failure of the Irrigation Department to ensure irrigation support to Rabi crops in SRSP Stage II ayacut. The farmers have been mounting pressure on the administration for water as the standing crops are withering.

The prolonged closure of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) barrages has begun to take its toll on the SRSP Stage II ayacut. The lack of water supplementation from KLIS had a devastating effect on over four lakh acres of Yasangi (Rabi) ayacut in the erstwhile Nalgonda, Khammam, and Warangal districts. The protesting farmers are urging the authorities to ensure the release of water to the last ayacut of SRSP to save their crops. They emphasized the importance of timely water supply for agricultural activities and the need for a fair distribution system.

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However, there has been no response from the government so far. Nearly two lakh acres of its ayacut is falling in Thungathurthy, Suryapet, Kodad, and Huzurnagar assembly constituencies, which form the tail-end of the SRSP Stage-II canal system. The irrigation department had planned to extend irrigation support to 9.68 lakh acres under the SRSP project during rabi. In multiple reviews held at different levels, the irrigation authorities had said they would release water in adopting on and off systems to ensure reach of water even for the tail end ayacut which usually suffers due to partial supply in the Rabi season. They assured that water would be released to the Rabi till April 8 to ensure a full fledged crop season. They had also decided to allot some 77 TMC of water for the season under SRSP Project.

However, none of these assurances made by the SRSP officials have been fulfilled, leading to repeated protests by farmers here. The proposed supply by adopting the on and off supply system also failed to do justice to the tail end farmers.