Ryots root for completion of Satnala project work

Adilabad: The work of digging canals for the Satnala Project is yet to be completed although the project was taken up three decades back in 1977. Also there is no water in the project because of the leakage from the crest gates. As a result whatever water gets stored is going waste. This is causing hardship to farmers of Jainath and Belapur mandals, who have been waiting for irrigation water to raise crops.

The project work was completed in 1985 and it was launched by the then Chief Minister N T Rama Rao. Two canals—the right and the left—were proposed. They remain incomplete even to this day, resulting in supply of irrigation water only to 5,000 acres. This dashed the hopes of farmers who wished that the project would solve their water shortage woes.

The farmers are losing precious irrigation water because of the faulty crest gates of the project. The Irrigation department officials are ‘indifferent’ and ‘negligent’ in taking up the repair work to the crest gates. The State government in 2009 had released Rs 43 crore for the construction of the two canals under the project to be completed in 32 months.The left canal was to begin from Kura to Deepaiguda villages and the right canal was to pass through Balapur and Akurla villages. With their work remaining incomplete, the digging of 18 mini-canals is going on at a snail’s pace.

In some areas the work is yet to be started. The estimated cost has been revised following a request by the contractor on the plea that the construction cost has gone up. An amount of Rs. 23 crore has been added to the estimates. The slow pace of the canal work, it appears, is benefitting only the contractor and not farmers. Farmers appealed to the TS government to speed up the work of the canals.