VIJAYAWADA:The farmers cultivating near about 1.2 lakh acres along Nallamada Drain in Guntur and Prakasam districts have a different tale to tell, for the drain has become a ‘bane’ for the farming community of the region. The drain floods every now and then, destroying their crops. When it is not flooding, it is a ‘near-drought’ situation as the area has no irrigation water.
The 100-km Nallamada Drain, which is an extension of Ogeru Vagu that originates in the hills near Narasaraopet region in Guntur district, empties into sea passing through Bapatla. Since there is no drainage system developed for Nagarjuna Sagar, the Ogeru Vagu becomes one and when Nakka Vagu joins it at Pedanandipadu, it takes the name of Nallamada Drain.
In September and October, the area gets inundated when rain lashes the catchment areas upstream. In 2013, when the worst floods were witnessed in Nallamada Drain, the then chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy visited the area and assured farmers of modernisation of the drainage system in the region. It was proposed to improve drainage system to 500 C value from the present 300 C value.
“The drainage capacity is far less than the flooding it witnesses every year. For the last three decades, our sustained struggle saw some improvement in the capacity of the drains. However, it is not sufficient,” said Dr. K Rajamohan, a farmer leader from Pedanandipadu region.
Since the area is the tail-end of both Krishna river and Nagarjuna Sagar ayacut, farmlands in the region hardly get their share of irrigation water. “It is either floods or famine and we are always a victim of vagaries of nature. Time and again we have represented to the government for a permanent solution, but to no avail,” he averred.
After Kiran Kumar Reddy’s visit, the irrigation departments had prepared estimates and made a proposal worth Rs 1.7 crore to study the drainage basin and improve it, as a first step. But, the proposal now lies in cold storage gathering dust, post-bifurcation.
“The government now plans to modernise Kondaveeti Vagu for the sake of saving a mere 15,000 acres from flooding, by shelling out several hundreds of crores of rupees. But then, what about the 1.2 lakh acres under the Nallamada Drain? Should we continue to suffer?” Rajamohan demanded to know.