Karimnagar: Farmers belonging to the villages of Maharashtra are up in arms against the proposed barrage across Godavari at Medigadda in Mahadevapur mandal which would be built as a part of the redesigned Praniheta-Chevella irrigation project.
Expressing concern over the submergence of their villages with the arrival of the barrage, they have started protests opposing the move of the TS government.
It may be recalled that following objections of the Maharashtra government over the height of a barrage belonging to the Pranahita project to be taken up at Thummidihetti of Koutala mandal in Adilabad, the irrigation authorities decided to build another barrage at Medigadda. But, this decision is snowballing into a controversy with the Maharashtra's agrarian community launching agitations.
Deepak Dada Athram, president of Adivasi Vidyarthi Sanghatan Chandrapur district and former legislator of Ahir Assembly constituency, regretted that farmlands of farmers belonging to over 20 villages would be submerged in the barrage. Similarly, three other villages would be completely inundated after its construction. Therefore, farmers are not ready to give away their lands, he stated.
“We are producing different crops twice a year. We don't need the barrage. We will lose our livelihood. We will be forced to migrate to other parts of the state in search of jobs. Our children would face problems in continuing studies. It will take several years to restart life once our villages are gone in the waters,” bemoaned Rajesh Sallamwar, a farmer of Sironcha taluq in Maharashtra.
Pochampalli, Vadidam, Lambadipalli, Pentipaka, Kothapalli, Aruda and Thumnoor are some of villages which are going to be submerged following construction of the barrage at Medigadda, 20 km from Kaleshwaram, a temple town of Mahadevapur mandal.
Several hundred farmers took out a padayatra a few days back and a massive rally was held in Sironcha on Friday, opposing the barrage. They asked the authori not to support the Telangana project.
They threatened they will block works of the barrage. They alleged that the two states entered into unacceptable agreements in Mumbai.
