Vijayawada: The Budameru rivulet has turned into a cause for grave concern in Vijayawada. Nearly half of the city faces submergence threat from Budameru rivulet, if heavy rains or flood occur.
The goverment has proposed to link the Budameru to Krishna river, but it is still under consideration. Similarly several areas in the city, which are on the banks of Krishna river, are facing threat of submergence.
Budameru starts from near Mylavaram and flows for 37 km through Vijayawada and ends near Ventrapragada in Krishna district. Nearly two lakh people were affected by floods in Budameru two years ago. Similarly, residents of Bhavanipuram, Vidyadarapuram, Singhnagar, Payakapuram, Ayodyanagar, Madhuranagar and Kanakadurga Nagar were affected with Budameru floods in the past several years.
Despite Budameru posing a threat to Vijayawada, officials have failed to solve the problem completely even after spending crores of rupees on it. The irrigation department also failed to increase the current length of the rivulet, which is just 25 metres in city limits. The state government has enhanced the project cost to '500 crore, but no initiative has been taken on this front so far.
Recently state government proposed to divert Budameru in to Krishna river. CM Chandrababu Naidu directed the officials to implement diversion plans to solve the submergence threat and utilise the water for irrigation purpose.
Fate of several areas in the city depends on the implementation of these new plans.
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