Official apathy makes Jurreru totally defunct

KURNOOL: Residents of Banganapalle have sought intervention of the District Collector S. Satyanarayana to make Jurreru reservoir reusable. The utter disregard and callousness of officials has resulted in zero maintenance of the reservoir. It is thick with sludge and overgrown shrubs and grass making it totally incapable of retaining the storage water. It has a capacity of 1.2 tmc ft of dead storage level but not fit to store water.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has promised to take Krishna water from Srisailam reservoir to Jurreru in Banaganapalle. With the commissioning of Muchumarri Lift, the prospect of getting water to Jurreru has rekindled. But the condition of Project Jurreru is far from satisfactory as it is totally rendered unusable. Though Banaganapalle MLA Janardhan Reddy volunteered to desilt the lake bed, it did not yield any respite in storing the desired water level, villagers said.

Official apathy, lack of co-ordination, negligence of the maintenance engineers rendered Jurreru medium irrigation project irrelevant for solving the irrigation needs of the people residing near Banaganapalle in Kurnool district. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the former Chief Minister of AP state laid the foundation stone for the project on March, 23, 1959. The project was completed in 1963. Drinking water needs of Banaganapalle, Jola Puram, Pathapadu, Madasapuram villages was catered to by this reservoir.

Residents of Banganapalle and surrounding villages allege that irrigation department officials totally forgot about the existence of this project. For decades, they did not carry out any works in the project area. As a result the crest gates were damaged. Other structures near the project like bunds developed cracks and were in a state of ruin. The full reservoir level is 866 ft of the project but half of the FRL is filled with silt and other debris.

Lakshminarayana, a resident of Mirapuram said that at least seven to eight villages will be benefited by the water in the reservoir. For the past 10 years, there is no water here. Madasupalle resident Narayana said that with the water availability in this reservoir, villages like Madasupalle would benefit greatly. Banaganapalle resident Venkat Reddy said that the drinking water needs of Banaganapalle can be solved with the water from this reservoir. Ground water level also would improve if care is taken to store water in the reservoir.