Raghunath (Warangal): Instead of approaching the government, the industrious villagers of Raghunathapalli came together to repair a damaged wall of a canal through which the village tank receives water from upstream.
Shanige cheruvu, the only source of irrigation in the village, went dry in summer this year due to scanty rainfall. It has the capacity to irrigate 3,000 acres of land. Shanige cheruvu receives excess water from Velli village lake through Banajipeta vagu and Sanyasikunta canal. The canal was built using lime and mortar during the Nizam regime.
A section of the canal wall got damaged about 20 years ago, which was never fixed. If the Velli lake overflowed, the water used to leak through the damaged section instead of reaching Shanige cheruvu.
Due to the recent heavy rains, the Velli lake overflowed, but because of the leak in the canal, Raghuna-thapalli was not getting any water. Realising this, village farmers came together and sealed the damaged portion, instead of approaching government officials. About 200 farmers worked for five days to complete the task.
“We saw that we were not receiving water through the canal due to the damage. No official came forward to repair the damage even after several complaints. So we decided to repair the canal ourselves. We explained to everyone that if this repair is done, we will receive more water in addition to rainwater. All the farmers in the village volunteered to work for this and we raised the required amount among ourselves,” said Pokada Shiva Kumar.
As a result of the effort, Shanige cheruvu is filled up after several years.
“We are expecting the groundwater table to rise because of this,” said sarpanch Safia Begum.
