The Hindu   10.08.2012

Ministers review water, fodder shortage

The government has issued instructions to the district Collectors to take immediate measures to prevent shortage of fodder and drinking water in areas with deficit rainfall.

These instructions were given during a videoconference with Collectors on Thursday. Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, Agriculture Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister M. Mahidhar Reddy reviewed the seasonal conditions in the State.

Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said that while normal rainfall was recorded in 15 districts, Nalgonda, Anantapur, Visakhapatnam and Nizamabad districts received deficit rains while Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Hyderabad districts received more than normal rainfall.

However, he said that even in districts and mandals that recorded normal rainfall, cultivation could not be taken up uniformly. The Collectors, thus, should take village as unit for preparing alternative plans. There was shortage of over three lakh tonnes of fodder in the State and 11,000 quintals of fodder seed was kept ready, he said. Action would be taken against those officers who did not take up field visits, he added.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy had already requested for immediate Central assistance of Rs. 500 crore. To improve drinking water supply in villages, Rs. 45 crore was released from Calamity Relief Fund. Another Rs. 20 crore would be released for drinking water supply through tankers in urban areas, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said.

Mr. Lakshminarayna said that 87 per cent of area had been brought under cultivation despite delayed rains. While different crops should have been raised in 57.8 lakh hectares by now, crops were raised in 56.54 lakh hectares. Majority of area was in dry lands compared to ayacut area.

The Indian Express   08.08.2012

Officials asked to address complaints of water shortage

Following a flood of complaints from fag-end consumers of water about extreme scarcity of water due to the 10 per cent water cut, top civic officials have asked their hydraulic engineering staff to carry out valve operations properly.

Consumers at the fag-end of water supply networks have been largely bearing the brunt of the water cut due to improper valve operations along the water pipelines.A senior engineer in the department said ward level engineers tend to reduce only the time of supply and not the pressure.

“When a cut is imposed, along with the time of supply, the pressure of supply also has to be reduced so that its effect is felt evenly across the network. Ward level engineers have been reducing only the supply time from the reservoir outlets due to which the first 70 per cent of consumers are not facing any water cut while the remaining 30 per cent are experiencing up to 50 per cent cuts,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Jalota held a review meeting on Tuesday wherein all junior level engineers were asked to prepare a thorough plan on valve operations to avoid faulty distribution of water.

“The department has also been directed to start preparing a water contingency plan for the period between October this year to May next year. If the rain is not satisfactory this monsoon, we will need to have a plan ready on how to optimize the use of water during this period,” said Jalota.