A few kilometres from this revenue divisional headquarters town on the right side is Narinja Vagu. For the past several years it has faced a complete neglect. But this year both the fate and face of the seasonal stream changed for the better.
Thanks to the initiative of Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Collector M. Hanumantha Rao the surrounding villages have got benefited from the more or less continuous rains since the rainy season began on June 1.
During the months of May and June the officials took up silt removal from the bed of the stream and the tank, which has been piling up year after year. A total of 80,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the stream.
Farmers from surrounding villages came on their own tractors as well as on tractors distributed in Palle Pragati programme and spread the alluvial soil on their farms as it would help improve the yield. It was estimated that the silt was spread over some 3,000 acres by the farmers before the commencement of rainy season.
Further, the ground water level in more than 30 villages in three mandals — Zaheerabad, Jarasangam and Nyalkal — has improved considerably. There are reports that there was impact on water levels in some villages in Kohir mandal. “The capacity of Narinja Vagu is 85 million cubic feet (mcft) and now it is overflowing. We have taken up repairs of gates and other related issued at an estimated cost of ₹ 18 lakh and some of the repairs are yet to be completed. The ground water has improved in villages of four mandals,” Deputy Executive Engineer, Irrigation, B. Ramana Reddy told The Hindu.
“Several borewells in Zaheerabad town had dried up by summer and we had a severe scarcity of water for drinking as well as water for regular use. Now with Narinja Vagu retaining water, the ground water levels have improved and more than 90 % bores have got recharged,” said Ahmad, a resident of Zaheerabad.
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