Tough year for Siddipet farmers as govt’s negligence, untimely rains hit them hard

In the hope that the government would release water, farmers went ahead and cultivated crops on lands under the project. Despite their best efforts—transporting water in tanks, digging open wells, and drilling new borewells—only a few managed to save their crops.

Siddipet: Farmers in this district had a tough year as untimely rains hit them hard while they were already suffering due to the government’s negligence in providing irrigation water.

Crops across the Siddipet district dried up as the irrigation department failed to supply water due to lack of proper planning. Particularly, farmers in Cheriyal, Maddur, Komuravelly and Dhoolmitta mandals suffered the most as the government failed to pump in water to Tapaspally reservoir.

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Hoping that the government would pump in water, farmers cultivated crops in lands under the project. They have put all out efforts by supplying water with tanks, digging open wells and drilling new borewells, but only a few of them could save their crops. Due to lack of proper water supply, farmers said that the productivity would also come down drastically.

While farmers were preparing to harvest whatever left paddy hoping to get at least their investment back, the untimely rains dashed their hopes. A week ago, the rains lashed Gajwel mandal, damaging the crops in over 200 acres. Due to Thursday rains and hailstorms, crops in over 10,000 acres were damaged in nine mandals of the district. The enumeration is still underway.
As the IMD was predicting more rains coupled with hail storms for the next few days, the farmers were bracing for more tough days. Adding to these woes, the farmers were denied Rythu Bharosa and loan waivers.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Tirupathi, a farmer, said that the farmers had toughest time in the recent years. He said that many farmers have suffered serious losses which would take a few years for them to recover from these losses. Meanwhile, former minister T Harish Rao demanded the government to declare Rs 20,000 compensation to the farmers whose crops were damaged.

Janagaon MLA Palla Rajeshwara Reddy, whose constituency affected the most due to lack of water in Tapaspally reservoir, also demanded the government to enumerate the agriculture fields which were dried up due to lack of water. The BRS MLA demanded Rs 20,000 compensation to each acre of crop that went dry due to the government’s ignorance.

The farmers of Ranganayaka Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar, Mallanna Sagar and Ananthagiri Reservoir could get irrigation water. The farmers said that they would have faced the toughest time had former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao did not built these projects in Siddipet.