Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

State has failed to meet water needs of people, says CPI(M)

VISAKHAPATNAM: The District Committee of CPI(M) has alleged that the State government has failed to provide sufficient drinking water to the people though it has been spending hundreds of crores of rupees for water in the district every year.

The failure to utilise the existing water resources indicated that the government had neither a long-term nor short-term plan to meet the drinking water needs, party district secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao told a media conference here on Saturday. He alleged that thousands of crores of rupees was being wasted on big contractors to implement water projects.

He alleged that efforts were being made by the authorities to handover the contract to L&T for laying a pipeline on the Yeleru canal.

Half of that amount would be sufficient to bring Godavari water to the city. But the government was not paying any attention to it, he said and deplored the attitude of the GVMC officials in according priority to industrial water supply over drinking water with the objective of making more money.

Mr. Narasinga Rao said though there were cost-effective schemes that could provide 207 MGD of water, which would be sufficient to meet the drinking and industrial water needs till 2020, the authorities were not taking any action on it.

Demands

Among other things, he sought drawing of 100 MGD of water from the Godavari and bringing it to the city through the Polavaram canal, laying a pipeline for bringing additional 16 MGD from Raiwada to Meghadrigedda Reservoir, measures to complete the Jhanjavathi project to provide 8 tmcft instead of the 1 tmcft, construction of a second reservoir on Borrammagedda and Pamugedda, construction of gravity projects to utilise 197 natural springs in the Agency areas of the district, repair of defunct borewells and laying of new ones, and measures to provide drinking water through tanks to meet the immediate needs of the people in rural and urban areas.

District secretariat member K. Lokanadham and retired Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Department Satyanarayana were present.

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