CPI state secretary K. Ramakrishna staging a protest demanding the State government increase the capacity of Handri-Neeva canal, in Anantapur on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: R.V.S. Prasad
CPI state secretary K. Ramakrishna has demanded the State government to increase the capacity of the Handri-Neeva canal to 10,000 cusecs to provide irrigation water to 6 lakh acres and drinking water to the people of the drought-prone region.
Mr. Ramakrishna participated in the protest staged by the All-Party political, farmers, and civil society joint forum in Anantapur on Tuesday, demanding that the capacity of the Handri-Neeva canal be enhanced. Speaking on the occasion, he said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for the project in 1995 during his earlier stint at Uravakonda. The project was proposed to provide irrigation facilities for six lakh acres, but he alleged that water had not been given to even a single acre in the past 30 years.
Mr. Ramakrishna said that the government should increase the capacity of the canal to carry 10,000 cusecs instead of taking up the lining works of the canal. “The farmers of this area are demanding the enhancement of canal and not lining of the canal,’‘ he said.
Mr. Ramakrishna said a section of engineers and politicians who want to be in the good books of the Chief Minister is proposing lining works so that the water reaches Kuppam, the constituency of Mr. Naidu. “We demand that the capacity of the canal be enhanced and later lining works be taken up. Increasing the capacity of the canal is the only means to provide water to the proposed ayacut and render justice to the farmers of Rayalaseema and particularly Anantapur district,’‘ he demanded.
Published – February 04, 2025 06:59 pm IST