more-in The long-cherished dream of farmers in the district for extension of Guntur Channel has been realised following an assurance from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that proposals for extending the Guntur Channel were being approved with an outlay of ?489.70 crore. Mr. Naidu made this assurance following an appeal made by district Collector Kona Sasidhar during the inauguration of the Kondaveeti Vagu pumping scheme on Sunday. The CM had announced at a public meeting in February 2017 at Pedanandipadu that the Guntur Channel would be extended from Garapadu to Paruchuru covering a distance of 40 km. Major irrigation source The channel is one of the major irrigation sources in Guntur district with a planned ayacut of 27,000 acres. The scheme is mainly intended to serve the ayacut in high level patches in between Krishna Western Delta and Nagarjuna Sagar Right canal ayacut in Guntur District and also cater drinking water needs of the Guntur Municipal Corporation, the Mangalagiri Municipality, Ponnuru and Prathipadu. The Guntur Channel is a contour channel running for a length of 47 km with a carrying capacity of 600 c Value at head. The area now proposed under extension of Guntur Channel is the tail end of Mallayapalem major and Kakumanu Major under Nagarjuna Sagar canal system to stabilise an ayacut of 9, 530 acres. It is expected to bring a new ayacut of around 40, 000 acres. Among the various organisations demanding the extension of Guntur Channel, Nallamada Rythu Sangham, is a prominent one. The Rythu Sangham has been demanding extension of the channel (previously Pedanandipadu High Level Channel) since the 1960s.

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