PEDDAPALLI: Farmers of Muttaram and Ramagiri mandals in the district have given a ‘Chalo Peddapalli’ call for Thursday, September 2, 2021 to force the government to sanction the Potharam Lift Irrigation Scheme.
Though the Godavari river is flowing nearby, the farmers lament that their fields have had no water, and they have been making representations to the authorities for an irrigation facility for about 40,000 acres of cultivated land.
Though the SRSP’s D83 canal flows through the district, water has not been reaching the fields of several villages such as Manthani, Mallepalli, Vilochanavaram and about other 10 villages since 2007. As a result, farmers are incurring expenditures to lay borewells. “We are suffering both financially as well as mentally,” said a ryot.
Three barrages have been constructed on Godavari river, but no water from them is being utilised by nearby villages. As a result, farmers themselves have proposed the Potharam scheme. The group Manthani Raithu Seva Samithi has released a poster for Thursday’s Chalo Peddapalli programme, as part of which, a large number of farmers plan to carry out a tractor rally from Manthani to Peddapalli collectorate.One of the farmer leaders Shashibhushan Katche has called for all farmers to participate in the rally to make it a success and to eventually achieve the Potharam scheme.