• Home

Breach at new river inter-linking project puts AP govt in a fix

Hyderabad - It is estimated that every year about 3000 TMC of Godavari water flows away into the Bay of Bengal unutilized while there is hardly enough water in the Krishna basin.

In a major embarrassment to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government in Andhra Pradesh, an ambitious river inter-linking project ran into rough weather within a couple of days of its launch when a newly-constructed Polavaram Right Canal suffered a breach.
An aqueduct, constructed on Tammileru river stream near Janampet village in West Godavari district, collapsed within hours of the release of water into the canal from Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme. After the efforts of the officials to arrest the breach failed, they were forced to switch off the motor to reduce the water flow.
State Water Resources Minister D Umamaheswara Rao had switched on the motor last Friday after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formally announced the launch of the ambitious river inter-linking project amid much fanfare on Sept 16.
The work on the Polavaram Right Canal, which is a part of the Godavari-Krishna link, was completed within a short period of six months. Water from Godavari river was released into Krishna river from Pattiseema through PLIS. The collapse of the aqueduct came as a big jolt to the flagship irrigation project which was claimed to be the first of its kind in the country. The experts have blamed the undue pressure exerted by the political leadership and haphazard implementation of works for the setback.
Under the first phase of the project, about 80 TMC of water from river Godavari are to be transferred to the Krishna basin through the Lift Irrigation Project constructed at Pattiseema village in West Godavari district. The water will be pumped into Polavaram canal, about 4km away, from where the water would reach Krishna barrage at Vijayawada after travelling a distance of over 175km. By next year, 24 vertical turbine pumps of 4,611 HP each will lift and pump the water through 12 rows of pipelines into the canal.
Following the setback, the Congress demanded resignation of the Water Resources minister owning responsibility for the lopsided works. "The government has spent about Rs 12 billion on the construction of the canal but the work done was sub-standard. The standard norms were not followed in the construction," the state Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy alleged.
He accused the Minister of exerting pressure on the engineers to complete the works, throwing quality norms to the winds.
The aqueduct was constructed hurriedly within a month at a cost of Rs 150 million. There are allegations that the project engineers were not given adequate time to follow the norms.
It is estimated that every year about 3000 TMC of Godavari water flows away into the Bay of Bengal unutilized while there is hardly enough water in the Krishna basin. The objective of the inter-linking project is to harness at least 200 to 300 TMC of water and divert it to Krishna basin, which can be later used in Rayalaseema region where all the reservoirs, tanks and lakes can be filled up. The interlinking through Pattiseema Project is expected to help drought-proof the state.