Vijayawada: In a move to strengthen the water management under all water resources including major projects, state govt has decided to conduct water users association elections from Dec 14.
The elections will be held in three phases.
While the water users associations will elect governing bodies on day one, elections to the distribution committees would be held on Dec 15. Elections to the project committee will be held on Dec 16.
Irrigation minister Nimmala Ramanaidu appealed to the farmers to elect the service-oriented people to the committees to protect their interests. He said that farmers should join hands with each other keeping their political affiliations aside during the elections. He said that state govt has been working to protect the farmers’ interests by saving each drop of water in the projects.
He said that it is the turn of the farmers to work with an agenda to conserve the water resources.
“We are working with an agenda to provide water to each and every acre in the ayucut. We have decided to revive the water users association only to protect the farmers’ interests,” said Ramanaidu.
He said that water users association were constituted when Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister in 2015. He, however, said that previous YSRCP govt abandoned the water users associations without knowing the utility of the stakeholders in conservation of the water bodies in 2020.
He said that suspension of water users association is an example of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’ negligence in protecting the rights of the farmers. He said that the previous govt had completely neglected the projects maintenance by not releasing the required funds.
He said that the gates of Pulichintala and Gundlakamma projects washed away only due to the negligence of the previous govt. He said that Annamayya project was completely washed away leading to death of 30 people due to the improper maintenance of the project during the YSRCP regime.
