Plans and progress

THE State governments plans to transform Srikakulam district into a green and prosperous delta on the lines of Godavari and Krishna districts are bearing fruit, thanks to the execution of several irrigation projects launched by it. They are being executed by Superintendent Engineer Dakshina Murthy and monitored by Chief Engineer D. Prasada Rao.

Phases I and II of Vamsadhara envisage the irrigation of a new ayacut of 1.07 lakh acres (1 acre is 0.4 hectare). The project was taken up in two phases in view of the delay in approvals from the government of neighbouring Orissa. In Phase I, the construction of the left main canal and the release of water from the Gotta barrage through three open head canals facilitated irrigation of 62,280 acres. Six lift irrigation schemes were initiated along the left main canal. The project cost of Phase I was Rs.123 crore.

The other major project is the Thotapalli barrage, which is being built across the Nagavalli at a cost of Rs.450 crore. It is expected to irrigate 57,946 acres and the project is nearing completion. An offshore reservoir aimed at tapping the flood waters of the Mahendratanaya river is being built at a cost of Rs.127 crore. It will irrigate 24,700 acres in Palasa, Nandigam and Melaayaputti mandals. The Madduvalasa project in Vangara mandal at a cost of Rs.15.32 crore is expected to irrigate 2,100 acres.

The floodgates of the Vamsadhara and Nagavalli rivers are being modernised at a cost of Rs.310 crore. Despite the floods in two consecutive years, farmers in the district produced 20 lakh tonnes of paddy. They are a happy lot because they are offered crop loans at an interest rate of 3 per cent under a scheme called Pavala Vaddi.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), being implemented through the District Water Management Agency (DWMA), has turned out to be a boon to the rural poor. The scheme, which provides a minimum of 100 days of work a year, has checked mass migration.

The NREGS has made such an impact that farmers owning large tracts of land are unable to get labourers as they are involved in public works such as laying roads and desilting tanks.

In every rural household, more than one member has secured work at NREGS sites. Since the launch of the scheme in 2004, 10.58 lakh people have been employed and 4,31,304 job cards issued in Srikakulam district. In February alone, 52,158 job cards were issued and 1.08 lakh jobs provided. In order to prevent corruption, the wages are credited to the post office accounts of the beneficiaries.

Another heartening aspect of the scheme is the payment of unemployment dole to those who cannot get work despite their registering for work under the NREGS. Rs.124.30 crore has been spent on this scheme in the past five years.

The farmers are also being paid wages to clean up their wasteland and convert them into cultivable land under the Indira Kranti Padham scheme being implemented by the DWMA. Under the Indira Prabha scheme, which has been implemented in seven mandals to benefit 1,534 Adivasi families, Rs.8.56 crore has been spent on converting wasteland into cultivable land. The government encourages farmers to take up horticulture on this land. The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), which is the real face of the government in the villages, is the driving force behind the social and economic transformation that such schemes have brought about.

According to T. Baburao Naidu, the DRDA project director, 34,321 self-help groups (SHGs) involving 5.82 lakh households are functioning in the district. They have a corpus fund of Rs.164 crore. According to the bankers, women members of these groups are reliable customers and the rate of credit recovery from them is about 95 per cent.

All SHG members are engaged in some trading activity and earn Rs.2,000 to Rs.3,000 a month. In villages, this is quite a big money and enough to sustain a family. The SHGs have even graduated to taking up panchayat and governmental contracts on a small scale. The women are now so organised that they call the shots in the gram sabhas and the panchayats.

Another feather in the cap of the DRDA is the empowerment of the youth. Young people are trained in masonry, welding, electrical works, plumbing and sanitation, hotel management and construction work under programmes initiated with non-governmental organisations. As a result, about 10,000 youth have got jobs.

The DRDA also extends pensions to 3.03 lakh old women and widows, the disabled, and weavers in the district. Abhaya Hastham is another flagship scheme being implemented by it. Under this, SHG members are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs.500 after the age of 60. The DRDA sponsors the higher education of 423 students belonging to economically and socially disadvantaged communities.

The Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM), also called the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), seeks to bring street children into the corridors of learning through a multi-pronged strategy. Project Director Surangi Mohana Rao is behind the success of the enrolment programme. Efforts are being made to flood villages with teaching programmes. They have been so designed that it will be difficult for either the child or the parent to evade school education.

Children in 216 model cluster schools were brought under the National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL). Others who were not attending schools were also enrolled. Under a health scheme, mobile clinics identify ailing children and treat them. In the 2008-09 fiscal, three primary schools were upgraded into upper primary schools and 366 primary education centres opened in places that did not have schools. To meet the lack of teaching faculty, 2,067 Vidya Volunteers were appointed in schools and hostels.

Under the RVM, special resource teachers have been appointed to provide home-based education to those who shy away from studies. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas have been established in 11 mandals in the district to provide value-based education. The project authorities have invested funds to improve the infrastructure in government schools.