The Hindu : CM visits drought-hit areas in Nellore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

CM visits drought-hit areas in Nellore

By Our Staff Reporter

NANDAVARAM (NELLORE DT.) APRIL 26. The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, who made a whirlwind tour of drought-affected areas in Udayagiri constituency of Nellore district on Saturday, reiterated the commitment of the Government to increase the height of the Somasila reservoir to have a storage capacity of 78 tmcft. for which a Cabinet sub-committee would be constituted in the next two/three days.

He admitted that there were some problems in respect of land aquisition in Cuddapah. "It is the sincere commitment of the Government to increase the storage capacity of Somasila,'' assured the Chief Minister and hinted the cost to be around Rs. 70 crores, obviously inclusive of the proposed expenditure on land acquisition.

Braving hot sun, a large number of people, including women, greeted the Chief Minister and narrated their woes, which mainly centred around lack of work, water scarcity and its effect on agriculture.

There were even placards greeting the Chief Minister, demanding Somasila project water to irrigate the lands in the area.

The Chief Minister also stressed the importance of drip and sprinkler irrigation to cover nearly 6.25 lakh acres, to conserve water.

At Pongurivari Kandriga, the Chief Minister, had a review of the "Velugu'' programme and appreciated the villagers for drawing a detailed map of the village, according to which out of about 170 families, nearly 70 were within the ambit of poverty.

At Nandavaram, Mr. Naidu visited a tank work and was disappointed to know that some of the workers were not sending their children to school or some girls had become drop-outs due to economic reasons.

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