Farmers told not to waste irrigation water

Nellore: District Collector B Sridhar appealed to farmers not to waste the irrigation water and utilise it in a proper way for protecting their standing crops in Nellore district. The District Collector made a whirlwind tour by visiting Bogasamudram, Navooru, Kanaparthi and Toderu villages in Podalakuru mandal on Friday. He inspected the paddy fields and interacted with the farmers to understand their problems. During his field visit, the farmers complained that their crops were withering away due to non-availability of water and their village tanks were almost dried up due to drought like situation prevailing in their respective areas. "As we received a good rainfall in December, we started the cultivation. With the temperature soaring by the day, all the tanks were dried up in our area. Now, we are worried about our future as the standing crops are withering away due to non-availability of water," a farmer explained his problem to the Collector. Responding to their problems, Sridhar said that based on the situation, water was being released into the canals and efforts were being made to protect the standing crops in the district. He also appealed to the farmers not to waste water and utilise it in a proper way for protecting their standing crops. Later, he visited an Angawadi Centre in Kanaparthi village and enquired the students about the quality of food. He directed the Anganwadi workers to take steps to ensure attendance of all the students regularly. Irrigation Superintending Engineer Somashekar, Divisional Engineers Ravi Kumar and Ramesh and other officials were present.