As the Polavaram major irrigation project will take at least eight years for completion, it is necessary to take up the Purushottampatnam lift irrigation scheme, according to Uttarandhra Irrigation Projects Sadhana Samiti. While taking up this lift, it is also necessary to complete the Polavaram left main canal and prepare 10 storage tanks along the left main canal in Visakhapatnam district.
The Purushottampatnam lift scheme is part of the Babu Jagjivan Ram Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi project that will irrigate 8 lakh acres in Uttarandhra, and received administrative sanction in 2009. According to the present estimates it will cost Rs. 1,000 crore and could be completed in one year as no more permissions are required. The lift should continue even after the Polavaram project is completed. Though this lift is less in cost and should have been taken up, much stress has been laid on the Pattiseema lift on the Polavaram right canal which is completed in record time.
These are the points raised by former Minister Konathala Ramakrishna, CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy, former Chief Engineer (irrigation) S. Satyanarayana at a press conference here on Thursday. They also wanted the government to stick to the original plan of capacity of left main canal at 100 tmcft and not reduce it to 40 tmcft since that much is needed to provide water to the north Andhra region. “Our area is parched. There is no drinking water even for many areas, leave alone water for irrigation,” they pointed out.
SuggestionAlong with 1.5 lakh acres in Visakhapatnam district, 2.5 lakh acres in East Godavari will be irrigated and 130 villages along the course would get drinking water with the Purushottampatnam lift. The samiti suggested that the Purushottampatnam lift completed in three phases: 1. Completing the lift and left main canal till the 58th km and linking to the Yeleru, pumping 1400 cusecs into the Yeleru reservoir to make it as a storage reservoir. This water can be used to meet the needs of Yeleru ayacut and Visakhapatnam whenever necessary. 2. Complete the left main canal up to 142nd km and connect it to the present Yeleru canal. Construct reservoir along the route of the canal to store 10 tmcft of water. 3. The left canal should further be extended to provide water under the Sujala Sravanthi project to irrigate a total of eight lakh acres of the north coastal districts.
Storage reservoirsThe samiti opined that the following tanks could be strengthened as storage reservoirs: Gopalapatnam (Payakaraopeta mandal), Cheedika (Nakkapalli), Penjeru, Yadlagedda and Seshugedda (Elamanchili), Krishnapuram (Rambilli), Rangabolugedda (Kasimkota) and Kondakarlaava (Atchyutapuram).
