A Success Story
That people's participation is crucial for the success of any scheme is well demonstrated in this success story at S. Rangapuram in Peapully mandal of Kurnool district.
After the initial hesitation, the people of this village whole-heartedly accepted the watershed development programme. The awareness among them was created through various ways like the Kalajatha programme, self-help groups, thrift groups etc.
The kind of terrain that the village has, would have made it unthinkable to have a watershed development programme here. The land is characterised by undulating topography with hillocks spread over eastern, middle and southern portion of the watershed. The soil type is mostly red gravel to red loamy. The soil depth is medium to shallow. The average rainfall of this area is recorded as 480 mm.
Remarkable changes were noticed after the implementation of the watershed programme in this village. These changes were widespread and reflected in different aspects of village life and in the lives of the people here.
While people generally became aware of the need to protect trees and forests, there was improvement in cultivation methods and yields of crops too. The most direct impact of the programme, of course, was the rise in water level in the wells from 3 metres to 3.8 metres in summer and from 3.5 metres to 4.7 metres in the rainy season from 1995 to 1997. The number of wells too went up from four to the present ten. Five biogas plants came up where there was none before the programme. The per capita income too increased from Rs. 2626 to Rs. 3564 i.e. an increase of 36%.
Also an amount of Rs. 22.23 lakhs was spent from April, 1995 to March 1998 on the watershed, while generating an employment of about 42,000 mandays during the project period under evaluation. The total effective area of the watershed is 816 hectares out of which 389 hectares fall under S. Rangapuram village.
The Weaker Communities Upliftment Service Society (W.C.U.S.S), a non-governmental organisation, is acting as P.I.A. for this successful project.
andhra pradesh - rivers
andhra pradesh major irrigation/multi purpose projects
- Vamshadhara Project
- Elenu Reservoir Project
- Cotton Barrage, Dowleshwaram
- Prakasam Barrage on Krishna River
- Somasila Project
- Nagarjuna Sagar Project / *Hydro Electric Project
- Srisailam Project / *Hydro Electric Project
- Joorala Project
- Sunkesula Project
- Singoor Project
- Nizam Sagar Project
- Sriram Sagar Project
