KURNOOL: While the construction of a tomato processing unit and maintaining water levels in water storage tanks have been long pending, the demand for Polytechnic college, government hostel for women, migration of labour, road widening in town, road connectivity in rural villages and permanent solution for both irrigation and drinking water problems are expected to be the key factors swaying the electorate in the Pattikonda Assembly constituency for the upcoming elections.
The Pattikonda Assembly constituency consists of five mandals—Pattikonda, Krishnagiri, Veldurthi, Tuggali and Maddikera. The total number of electorate are 2,19,373 as of January 2024.
It is important to note that there is no Polytechnic college for students in the constituency as well as a government hostel for women who hail from rural corners of the segment to pursue intermediate and degree in Pattikonda town. Another important issue being faced by people in the constituency is availability of water for cultivation of crops.
In spite of having several storage tanks, ponds and reservoirs in the constituency, the officials have failed to maintain adequate levels of water for irrigation of the fields. Even the elected representatives were lagging behind in solving the water issues faced by the local farmers.
The drying up of water storage tanks is creating a continuous drought-like situation every year and also having a cascading effect on the labourers as they are migrating to cities like Hyderabad, Guntur, and Bengaluru for daily wage works.
K Ganesh, a resident of Pattikonda town, alleged that despite having nearly 37 irrigation water tanks and ponds situated in the constituency, the support for irrigating crops is absent. Almost 70 per cent of total one lakh ayacut have been turned into rain-dependent farm lands due to negligence of political representatives and officials, who failed to maintain the water levels in storage tanks and reservoirs during the rainy season, he lamented.
He further asserted that had the officials maintained the water properly in the tanks, all the irrigation related problems as well as the drinking water issues faced by the Pattikonda constituency would have been resolved.
Another long lasting demand of the farmers in the segment is the construction of a tomato processing factory. The tomato farmers of Pattikonda cultivate the crop in nearly one lakh acres every season.
However, in most of the cases, such as sudden decline of market price for tomatoes and lack of marketing and storage facilities leads to farmers discarding their hard work laced tomatoes thrown into mud.
In order to provide support to the tomato farmers, the State government has planned and laid the foundation for a tomato processing unit at Pattikonda on November 30, 2023 with a total project estimate of Rs 12 crore in an area of 3.60 acres.
The construction works are yet to commence, alleged tomato farmers.
While the farmers and general public are grappling without sufficient water for cultivation of crops and drinking water, the daily commuters complain about the conditions of roads and are demanding for road widening in the town area.
On the other hand, the rural people are facing daily hardships while commuting among the villages due to the deplorable conditions of roads.
The fate of roads will decide the fate of the MLA candidates in the constituency, said Maddikera villagers.
Several villagers alleged that the sitting MLA had promised to solve their problems as part of her campaign in 2019 but failed to fulfil it.
