Rejuvenation of Penna river, that originates from the Nandi Hills in the Chikballapur district of Karnataka and flows 560 km through Anantapur, Kadapa and Nellore districts in Andhra Pradesh, is being planned by the State government.
Buoyed by the recent SKOCH Award for Anantapur District Water Management Authority(DWMA) for linking the NREGS works with water conservation, district officials, including Hindupur MP Gorantla Madhav, Anantapur MP Talari Rangaiah with DWMA, at a meeting here decided to link MGNREGS funds with project. The ₹100-crore project might involve a non-governmental agency and they might be given a 2% consultancy fee. According to sources, Art of Living has also been contacted, and if all goes well, a Memorandum of Understanding is likely in the first week of April.
Major hurdles
A major hurdle for the proposed ₹100-crore project will be the several existing and ongoing constructions on the riverbed at Pamidi and Tadipatri in Anantapur district. Tadipatri has one NTR Bhavan meant for senior citizens, a two-storied tourism guest house building, and a park. An entire residential school building of the State government is also located on the riverbed.
Major encroachments on the riverbed all through its journey and the large-scale destruction of the catchment area have restricted the river flow, from Nandi Hills to Kadapa district, to just a few monsoon months.
While water flow is restricted to few days during monsoon usually, during the 2020 monsoon, however, the river saw a consistent flow for a longer spell.
