Communist Party of India (Marxist) Central Secretariat member V.Srinivasa Rao on Thursday urged the State government to immediately release 5 tmcft of Krishna water from the Nagarjunasagar reservoir to save the standing dry crops in about one lakh acres in the tail-end areas in Prakasam district.
Touring the drought-hit parts in Chimakurthy and S.N.Padu mandals, where winter crops as also social forestry plantations faced severe moisture stress, he said about 65 tmcft of water was available in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir.
He wanted the State government to negotiate with the upper riparian State of Telangana in the interest of farmers who suffered capital loss in the wake of drought for the fifth year in succession.
YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy could use his good offices with the Telangana government and persuade it to part with Krishna water for drought-affected Prakasam district, he felt.
Farmers suffer loss
Farmers, especially social forestry planters, had suffered irreparable loss due to stunted growth of ready-to-harvest subabul and eucalyptus logs following severe moisture stress, he said, adding that the State government, which had brokered an agreement between farmers and paper mills, should ensure that the agreement was honoured by the paper mills.