Telangana govt plans steps to curb flood effect

HYDERABAD: The state government will study flood protection works along the Ganga, Brahmaputra and other large rivers and adopt “suitable measures” to mitigate the impact of floods in the Godavari River.

A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting on Tuesday on the flood situation and to figure out permanent mitigation measures to control floods along the Godavari. The meeting was chaired by Irrigation special chief secretary Dr Rajat Kumar. The meeting also reviewed the safety of the which faced a threat a few days ago when the Godavari river was in spate.

Among the other decisions taken were taking up Kadam dam in Nirmal district section measures for Bhadrachalam temple, Parnashala and the Manuguru Heavy Water Plant, relocation of villages that are affected during high flood levels of the Godavari and protection measures for seven major streams — out of the 37 that join the river — which together contribute more than 10,000 cusecs of water during floods.

A committee of irrigation department engineers, along with some external experts was set up to finalise the recommendations and submit a report to the government.

On the situation at the Kadam dam, the meeting was told by a consultant appointed by the department that 70 per cent of the rainfall occurs in the catchment area very close to the reservoir and flash floods occur without allowing enough time to operate the gates to create flood cushion.

It takes at least two hours to open all 18 gates, whereas within one hour the flood rises to 3 Lakh cusecs which is creating problems in flood management. The meeting was told that the gates were 65 years old and needed to be replaced, and that additional vent ways had to be created to discharge an additional 1.5-2 lakh cusecs of water to ensure safe flood management.