There is a groundswell of support from all the villages in Rayalaseema districts for the Siddheswaram Jala Jagarana Deekha proposed on May 31. Many villagers residing closer to the Srisailam Reservoir taking up deeksha for the past 33 days, demanding the construction of a barrage-cum-bridge at Siddheswaram instead of a wire-stayed bridge, proposed by the Central government.
The people of Rayalaseema are also demanding the completion of all pending irrigation projects in the region so that 19 lakh acres of agricultural land get irrigation water instead of the current 8 lakh acres.
The Rayalaseema Saguneeti Saadhana Samithi, along with other Rayalaseema rights activists and small political outfits have planned to come together on May 31 to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Siddheswaram agitation.
At Mandlem village in Jupadu Bungalow mandal of Nandyal district, the villagers have been observing an indefinite fast, seeking irrigation water for their land, just 2 km away from the reservoir backwaters.
A similar agitation is going on at Nandikunta in Kothapalli mandal, where the residents are enduring scarcity of drinking water even as the Srisailam Reservoir is very close to their village.
“Peddagummadapuram village in Nandyal district was recently in the news for the four tiger cubs was found abandoned. But the attention of the officials and media ended there. Political leaders have never bothered about the issues pertaining to scarcity of drinking and irrigation water of the residents who were displaced due to the Srisailam project,” said Rayalaseema Saguneeti Saadhana Samithi president Bojja Dasaratharami Reddy while participating in an agitation at Mandlem village on Sunday.
He invited the residents to come to Siddheswara and participate in the Jagarana at the proposed project site on May 31 night till June 1 morning.
“Many political leaders from Rayalaseema have stopped thinking about the region’s development. The issues of people who have parted with 33,000 acres for the construction of capital in Amaravati are being discussed, but the people who had given 20,000 acres for the Srisailam project did not get the promised jobs. They do not have drinking and irrigation water. These issues are never discussed by any political party,” said Mr. Dasaratharami Reddy.
People from Kurnool, Nandyal, Kadapa, Anantapur, and Chittoor districts are expected to come in large numbers to participate in the Siddheswaram Jala Jagarana Deeksha, he said.
