HYDERABAD: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday directed officials to revive district irrigation advisory panels for the benefit of farmers.
Addressing the district collectors during a video conference, along with fellow ministers Thummala Nageswara Rao and Jupally Krishna Rao, he said that the panels — comprising district collectors, officials from the Irrigation and Agriculture departments, elected representatives and other stakeholders — should meet before and during every crop season to assess reservoir and canal supplies and advise farmers on crops that can be safely cultivated in each command area.
He also asked district collectors to start holding meetings of Irrigation Advisory Boards in view of the prevailing El Nino conditions that are likely to impact rainfall across the state. “The Irrigation Advisory Boards should review reservoir storage, expected inflows, local rainfall, drinking-water requirements and command-area needs and then issue clear guidance to farmers,” he said.
‘Avoid water-intensive crops’
Uttam, meanwhile, urged the farmers to not go for water-intensive crops, including paddy, during the current Kharif season under projects that received inadequate inflows so far.
Observing that the present reservoir levels coupled with rainfall outlook for the latter part of the monsoon, require extremely cautious crop planning, he said: “Farmers should not opt for paddy crops merely on the strength of the present spell of rains. You may perhaps be able to support one wetting by taking advantage of the rains received during the first week of August. But the second wetting itself may become uncertain. Farmers should not be put to hardships two or three months later after being encouraged to take up a crop now.”
The minister also directed the district collectors to widely publicise the present storage position in the state’s major reservoirs. He also said that the water levels in Nagarjunasagar and Sriramsagar project were yet to improve to the desired levels.
The minister directed Rural Water Supply officials to work closely with the Irrigation department to ensure that sufficient water was reserved for drinking-water needs, especially for the next summer.
During the video conference, Uttam also reviewed Civil Supplies issues and announced that the government would distribute around 1.06 crore ration cards, covering about 3.42 crore beneficiaries.
He also revealed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will formally launch the statewide distribution of the smart ration cards at Sangareddy district headquarters on August 15.