Andhra's first river-linking project: A panacea for farmers' woes?

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu inaugurates Godavari flow into Krishna river near Polavaram

Pattiseema is a village in Polavaram mandal of West Godavari district, on the bank of the Godavari. On Wednesday, it came centre-stage when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu released the river's waters into the Krishna, switching on the first pump of the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme, formally linking the two mighty rivers of the state.

Naidu termed this a historic event, India's first river linking project. “We are making a reality of what others have only talked about,” he said.

The Krishna-Godavari linking project through the Pattiseema scheme would lift 8,500 cusecs (cubic ft each second) from the Godavari into the Polavarama right main canal, about two km. This water was flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Around 80 tmc (thousand million cubic ft) will be diverted into the Krishna above Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada, nearly 175 km.

 
The government justifies taking up the Rs 1,300-crore Pattiseema scheme, even as it expects to complete the Polavaram project in three to four years. It reasons that by doing so, it helps save the Rayalaseema region from drought conditions. Of the 80 tmc, 70 tmc will be for irrigation, covering 500,000-750,000 acres of paddy field. The rest would go for domestic and industrial needs of the Krishna and West Godavari districts.

“Farmers will surely benefit,” said Malla Reddy, vice-president of the All India Kisan Sabha. “Rains have become very unpredictable. It now rains in September-October, while transplantation takes place in June-July. The Krishna delta faces acute water shortage during June to August. This linking will facilitate early seed beds in the Krishna delta and stabilise the ayacut (area served by an irrigation project) for irrigation from June to August. In the Krishna delta, around 1.35 million acres goes for transplant in July. If they get water, crops will be good and so also yield.”

The Krishna delta is mainly dependent on the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam reservoirs.

Rythu Swarajya Vedika, an umbrella organisation of farmer groups and non-government bodies in the  agriculture sector, says such river integrations will help reduce farmer suicides. “We have been observing that in some of the areas, water scarcity is high even though rivers flow through these. In Telangana, we have farmers committing suicides from the Godavari basin (Adilabad, Karimnagar Medak and Warangal), as they do not get water from Godavari. Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, the number of suicides is high from Anantapur and Kurnool districts, which are more drought-prone.  If such integration of rivers take place, farmers of these regions will get water for irrigation and grow crops," says B Kondala Reddy, joint secretary of the Vedika.

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PATTISEEMA PROJECT

• Meets drinking and industrial water needs of West Godavari and Krishna districts
• Provides irrigation facilities in Polavaram command area in West Godavari and Krishna districts
• Facilitates early seed beds in Krishna delta and stabilises the ayacut for irrigation in June-Aug
• Release of water from Nagarjuna Sagar project to meet the demands of Krishna delta can be minimised by utilising Godavari water
• Water thus saved can be retained in Srisailam reservoir and used by Rayalaseema region
• Estimated cost of the project is Rs  1,300-crore