Take up Guntur Channel project: Ryots to government

GUNTUR: Nallamada Rythu Sangham convener Kolla Rajamohan has demanded that Guntur Channel extension project be taken up immediately. He expressed doubt on whether the extension project, which was sanctioned by the previous government, would at all be taken up, as it has been a nonstarter. 

He, however, said that as the project aimed to provide irrigation and drinking water to thousands of people living in five mandals of Guntur and Prakasam districts, the new government should consider the demand of the public and take up the works.He recalled that the new Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised to complete the long-pending project of Guntur Channel extension during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra in Guntur and Prakasm districts. 

He said that the previous government sanctioned Rs 276.53 crore for the project so the new government should execute it. He said that the farmers of Prathipadu, Pedanandipadu, Kakumanu and Vatticherukuru mandals in Guntur district and Parchur in Prakasam district had been agitating for extension of the Guntur Channel by another 30 km. He said that it would not be wise on the part of the new government to stop the irrigation works and cancel Guntur Channel extension project, which was sanctioned after a prolonged agitation by the farmers for more than eight decades.

Rajamohan urged the new government to start the works of Guntur Channel extension as early as possible to provide drinking water to 50 villages and irrigate 50,000 acres in drought-prone areas in Guntur and Prakasam districts. He held a meeting with farmers to chalk out the future course of action regarding the Guntur Channel extension project.