AP gets ready to face floods; safety check done on projects

Vijayawada: With the onset of Southwest Monsoon, though delayed, the Andhra Pradesh government has taken special steps to face flood situations. The water resources department carried out safety checks on all 166 major irrigation projects and put the staff on high alert.

In the backdrop of incidents like a breach to the Annamayya dam and the washing away of a hydraulic gate at Pulichintala project, the department is doing its best to ensure safety of the projects, especially during the rainy season. The projects will receive huge inflow of water and this can cause damage to the structures unless they are strong and well maintained.

Water resources engineer-in-chief Narayana Reddy said, “We have 166 projects to take care of especially during the rainy season. We don’t have any norm like vulnerable projects for floods. We keep a check on all the projects and there will be regular monitoring and maintenance of the projects.”

As for the Polavaram irrigation project, the authorities are ready with the dewatering mechanism. They are taking up construction works at the diaphragm wall even during the flood season (Godavari) as the construction of both coffer dams on the upper and lower sides has been completed.
 
The project officials say they witnessed 22 lakh cusecs of water at spillway in the last flood season, but see no trouble this season.

Polavaram superintending engineer Narasimha Murthy said, “We are continuing the works on the diaphragm wall by taking up vibro compaction and construction of a parallel D-wall as the area is secured by cofferdams. We are prepared for any chance of seepage of water during floods to Godavari from the cofferdams and are getting ready for dewatering to ensure works will go on and we can complete them early. We can thus go for construction of the earth-cum-rock-fill dam of the project.”

Meanwhile, at the Pulichintala project, the authorities have got the new gate fabricated and installed, replacing the Gate 16 that was washed away in the past. Painting works are going on at all 24 gates at the project site.

At Prakasam barrage too, the authorities maintain that they are maintaining the barrage with 70 gates on a regular basis to avoid any trouble when Krishna river is flooded with rainwater.

At the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage in Dowleswaram too, the authorities are taking up regular maintenance works to ensure trouble-free operation of all the 175 gates in four arms at the time of floods to Godavari river. Similar attention is being paid to other irrigation projects and dams too.