Prioritise dry crops in Rabi season: Ministers

 Nandyal: Ministers NMD Farooq (Law & Minority Welfare) and BC Janardhan Reddy (Roads & Buildings, Infrastructure & Investments) appealed to farmers to focus on dryland crops instead of paddy during the current Rabi season.

They addressed the Irrigation Advisory Board meeting held on Tuesday at the PGRS hall in the Collectorate, chaired by District Collector G Raja Kumari. Several public representatives including Zilla Parishad Chairman E Bothula Papireddy, MLAs Bhuma Akhilapriya (Allagadda), Budda Rajasekhar Reddy (Srisailam), Gauru Charitha Reddy (Panyam), Gittha Jayasurya (Nandikotkur), Varadarajulu Reddy (Proddatur), irrigation officials, ayacut leaders and farmers participated.

The Ministers said detailed discussions were held with irrigation authorities on water availability and release plans under KC Canal, SRBC and Telugu Ganga systems.

They assured that water would be supplied to the last ayacut under SRBC.

However, they informed that due to reconstruction works of Tungabhadra project gates, water releases through KC Canal from 0–120 and 120–150 km stretches would not be possible this season, leading to temporary hardship.

Stating that repair works were essential to prevent major future risk, they urged farmer associations to cooperate.

They added that the government is examining alternative measures including reverse pumping and is committed to protecting farmers’ interests.

Collector G Raja Kumari reiterated the government’s commitment to farmer welfare and remunerative prices. She said that a detailed irrigation plan for Kharif and Rabi has been prepared for Nandyal district, and water will be supplied to dry crops up to March 31 in the available ayacut under SRBC and Telugu Ganga.

She cautioned that cultivating paddy in non-assured stretches may lead to losses due to restricted water availability in the 0–150 km KC Canal belt, affecting about 48,000 acres. The Collector requested cooperation from people’s representatives and farmers in implementing meeting decisions.

Public representatives raised issues of distribution challenges, ayacut imbalances and crop losses. ZP Chairman Papireddy noted that despite full reservoirs due to heavy rains, irrigation distribution limitations persisted.

MLA Akhilapriya sought water release to the tail-end areas, while MLA Rajasekhar Reddy requested measures to increase supply to additional ayacut under Siddapuram tank.

MLA Charitha highlighted crop-damage compensation proposals of ₹88 lakh and demanded water release till April 15. MLA Gittha Jayasurya urged prioritising KC Canal downstream ayacut farmers.