Kurnool: 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 is once again kindled. 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 say.
Official apathy, lack of co-ordination, negligence of the maintenance engineers had rendered Jurreru medium irrigation project irrelevant for solving the irrigation needs of the people residing near Banagana Palle in Kurnool district.
Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh state laid the foundation stone for the project on March, 23, 1959. The project was completed in the year 1963.
Banaganapalle, Jola Puram, Pathapadu, Madasapuram villages irrigation and drinking water needs was catered to by this reservoir. As the callousness of officials in maintaining the upkeep of reservoir made it difficult, the reservoir was left without any repairs.
Sludge removing has not been carried out and as a result of which shrubs and thickets cropped up leaving the reservoir totally incapable of retaining the storage water. It has a capacity of 1.2 tmc ft of dead storage level. But it can hardly store any water, say villagers.
It is surprising to note 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 of crest gates were damaged. Other structures near the project like bunds developed cracks and lay in a state of ruins.
The project full reservoir level is 866 ft. half of the FRL is filled with silt and other debris. Maddileti, 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 was no water available here.
Madasupalle resident Subbaiah said that with the water availability in this reservoir, villages like Madasupalle would benefit greatly. Banaganapalle resident Srinivasa 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 at the reservoir.
