MALKANGIRI:Water has for the first time reached the tail ends of Potteru Irrigation project, in the last 30 years. It is also for the first time that the Agriculture Department’s target of irrigating 61.040 hectares (ha) of land under the irrigation project has been achieved through proper management of water supply for agriculture purposes.
The canal lining work for Potteru Irrigation project in the district was undertaken in February to ensure smooth flow of water till the tail-end. This yielded results with the water reaching the tail ends of both the Gompakonda Main Canal (GMC) and Tamasa Main Canal(TMC) - two parts of the irrigation project, said the Balimela-based Potteru Irrigation Project Chief Construction Engineer, Harshabardhan Mohanty.
Distributaries like Motu, Kunanpalli, Muraliguda and Koikonda, located in the tail end of both the canals, are now filled up with water and farmers have already started raising multiple crops.
Contacted, MV-79-based Potteru Canal Division Executive Engineer, Chandra Sekhar Mishra said efforts are being made to provide irrigation water to all the tail-end parts of canals. “Thousands of farmers who depend on agriculture, can no irrigate their lands well,” said Dinesh Sardar, a farmer of MV-65 village.