GUNTUR: Members of farming community under Nallamada Rythu Sangham have demanded funds be allocated for extension of Guntur Channel to Parchuru of Prakasam district after inauguration of the pylon for Godavari-Penna river interlinking at Nekarikallu of Guntur district on Monday.
Irrigation department officials conducted a survey and drew up proposals for the project. The same has been submitted to the authorities for approval under the directions of Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao. After completion of survey, four lift irrigation projects have also been planned to supply water from Guntur to Parchuru.
After extension, the channel will supply drinking water to 33 more villages and irrigate 27,000 acres. Nearly 1.3 lakh residents in Prathipadu, Pedanandipadu, Kakumanu and Vatticherukuru mandals of the district and Parchuru mandal have been agitating to extend the Guntur C hannel by 30 km. The channel flows from Krishna river to Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) limits, a distance of around 47 km.
At present, the channel supplies drinking water to Guntur, Tadepalli and Mangalagiri municipalities.
It may be mentioned the Guntur channel draws 600 cusecs of water on average from Prakasam Barrage and 90 million litres per day (MLD) of water is supplied to Takkellapadu. Another 27 MLD is drawn from the summer storage tank at Sangam Jagarlamudi and 40 MLD from Vengalayapalem pipeline.
Sangham president Kolla Raja Mohan said the irrigation department officials had estimated the cost for extending Guntur Channel at `280 crores. Around 686 acres of land needed to be acquired to extend the channel, he added.
Raja Mohan said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has mentioned the Guntur channel extension, Verikasalapudi and Vykuntapuram projects works would be taken up soon, after laying the foundation stone for Godavari-Penna linking project at Nekarakallu Mandal on Monday. He asked the government to sanction funds with immediate effect to start the works. “The funds should include the compensation to be paid to the landowners — around `113 crore.”