The Hindu Business Line : Rains bring relief to delta farmers in AP

RAINS under the influence of a depression in the Bay of Bengal this week have brought some relief to the Krishna delta farmers and the water release into the canals from the Prakasam barrage here has also improved to meet the requirements of the standing paddy crop.

According to current estimates, transplantation may have been completed in four lakh acres in Krishna district and 2.8 lakh acres in Guntur district till now this kharif season, which is roughly half of the usual acreage in the delta (13 lakh acres in the four districts of Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Prakasam).

Due to water scarcity, farmers in the delta areas of the other two districts could not take up paddy cultivation on any significant scale.

Irrigation officials here are expressing confidence that they would be able to save the standing crop. Mr I.S.N Raju, the Krishna Irrigation Circle Superintending Engineer, said that roughly 10,000 cusecs of water was being released into the canals for the crop, 50 per cent of it from the Nagarjunasagar and the rest coming from the intermediate catchment area between Nagarjunasagar and the Prakasam barrage here.

He said the water release would be monitored regularly and the rotation system would be adopted to meet the requirements of farmers.

Mr V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, the State Agriculture Minister, assured the delta farmers that all steps would be taken to save the standing crop, though the Government was in no position to guarantee the release of a specified quantum of water (10,000 cusecs a day) as sought by the Congress leaders.

It may be noted that in September Congress legislators from the delta threatened to resign from the Assembly and undertook a hunger strike in Machilipatnam, the district headquarters, over the issue. The agitation was subsequently called off.

There has been some improvement in the situation since then.

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