Vigil along SRSP canals up
Even as resentment is brewing among the farmers of the SRSP tail-end areas in Peddapalli division over the alleged denial of water supply, the SRSP officials have stepped up vigil in association with the police to prevent unauthorised tapping of water from the main canals in the division to ensure water to the tail-end areas. The aggrieved farmers of the tail-end areas of Dharmaram, Sultanabad, Velgatur and other mandals in Peddapalli division organised agitations in the last week demanding water supply to save their crops. They raised objections over the alleged illegal tapping of water by using the electricity pump-sets in the upstream areas of the main canals and sought action to check the menace. In this backdrop, the SRSP officials released water from the project into some of the reservoirs in an effort to cater to the water requirements of the farmers in the crucial rabi season. The officials have pressed into action special mobile teams along with the police to check illegal tapping of water from the main canals and other untoward incidents to ensure water supply to the tail-end areas. The farmers of the remote areas of Kamanpur mandal have joined the operation to ensure smooth flow of water without any hindrances. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha state president P. Sugunakar Rao demanded that the SRSP officials should convene a meeting of the elected representatives of the water users associations to chalk out a strategy to ensure equitable distribution of water to all the farmers up to the tail-end areas of the canals. He warned that the Morcha would launch an agitation if the authorities failed to initiate steps to supply water to the farmers, especially of the tail-end areas, to save their standing crops.