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Cash crunch hits Sujala Somasila Scheme project; farmers in fix
The State government’s wish to provide water to the agriculture operations and drinking water purposes to Kadapa district through Sujala Somasila Scheme (SSS) remains unfulfilled. Instead, a sum of Rs 50 crore of public money which was spent on the project went down the drain.
Kadapa: The State government’s wish to provide water to the agriculture operations and drinking water purposes to Kadapa district through Sujala Somasila Scheme (SSS) remains unfulfilled. Instead, a sum of Rs 50 crore of public money which was spent on the project went down the drain.
To promote farm operations and provide drinking water to the people of drought-hit Kadapa district, the State government had decided to construct Sujala Somasila Scheme with a cost of Rs 1,970 crore as initial investment.
Under this scheme, the government proposed to divert the backwaters of Somasila reservoir located near Kotapadu of Vontimitta mandal in 2008. One of the major demand under the project is to provide water to industries, education and research organisations.
As part of the programme, Irrigation Department Principal Secretary Rajiv Ranjan Mishra issued GO on June 28, 2008 by allocating 0.80 tmc ft water to Kadapa city including needs of Kopparthi industry which is located on the outskirts of Kadapa city, 0.80 tmcft water to Prodduturu municipality, 0.20 tmc ft water to Idupulapaya IIIT, 1 tmc ft water to Kadiri science city, 1.20 tmcft water to knowledge center located at Ananthapur district and Chilamathuru by drawing water from Somasila reservoir.
The government has released Rs 50 crore in the first phase for basic infrastructure facilities including 2 km length main pipeline against its total length of 202 km from Kotamitta village of Vontimitta mandal to Ananthapur district.
Works worth Rs 15.50 crore were executed from Somasila backwaters under the package-1 up to Kanumalomapalle village of Sidhavatam mandal in September, 2008. However, works were stopped in the middle due to various reasons.
Later, the State government came with another agreement package-2 to construct 23 km length pipeline from Kanulomapalle to Yogi Vemana University at a cost of Rs 115 crore and constructed a 7 km length pipeline by spending Rs 35.50 crore. But those works were also stopped in the middle due to some unknown reasons.
However, the works of SSS were again started with the initiative of former Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy with the revised estimation of Rs 415 crore for both first and second packages under pursuance of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (AIIIC) in 2009.
After the death of Rajasekhar Reddy, the works were completely stopped with successive Chief Ministers not showing any interest in the project. “It is unfortunate that the governments are least bothered over providing water to the agriculture operations and drinking water despite the availability of Somasila backwaters in sufficient quantities.
The government should think about completion of pending SSS instead of designing new projects in Kadapa district,” M Srinivasulu Reddy, of Kanumalomapalli village of Sidhavatam mandal said, while speaking to The Hans India here on Sunday.
