Farmers fear floods from River Penganga during monsoon

They note that the work on the Korata-Chanaka barrage constructed on the river was yet to be completed and it can’t be operational for the Kharif season.

On September 28, 2023, the wet run of the Korata – Chanaka barrage was conducted successfully by the irrigation department as elections were round the corner. But there was no further momentum towards its operations later.

The officials released 300 cusecs of water downstream from the barrage.

The previous BRS government did a wet run just before the assembly elections to create an impression that the government had fully completed the barrage, though the barrage was not operational. Canal construction was not completed to release the water from the barrage.

The officials claim that sub-canal works are pending at Neerala due to a delay in land acquisition; and that the work of the pump house to be used for lifting water and the main canal is completed.

The state government has revised the cost of the construction of the Korata-Chanaka barrage to `795.94 crore from an initial `350 crore.

The Korata-Chanaka barrage aimed at providing water to 50,000 acres in the Jainad, Bela and Bheempur mandals in the Adilabad assembly constituency.

The project, with a storage capacity of 0.85tmc water, was taken up with `350 crore initially. The project cost escalated to `500 crore later. The project has a total of 23 pillars and 22 gates.

As much as 1.7tmc water would be stored in the Pippalkoti reservoir by lifting the water from the Korata-Chanaka barrage in Bheempur mandal.

The backwaters of River Penganga are inundating many villages located on the banks of the river and damaging the standing crops during the monsoon.

Locals say that the floods will be controlled once the Korata-Chanaka barrage is fully operational by storing the rainwater in the barrage and also the reservoir.

The oustees of the Pippalkoti reservoir that is coming up in the Gollaghat Thamsi are asking the state government to pay the revised compensation to the lands acquired for the reservoir.

From a total of 90 farmers, nearly 1,200 acres of land were acquired for the reservoir four years ago. Some 200 acres in total were used for building the bund. The farmers whose lands were used for it were paid Rs 8 lakh per acre.

The agitating farmers demand that the state government should pay a revised compensation to the remaining farmers for their 1,000 acres. Even in this Kharif, rainwater may not be stored in the barrage like last year.

During the election campaign, chief minister A Revanth Reddy promised that funds would be provided for completion of the barrage.

Laxma Reddy of Bela said it would be good if the Korata-Chanaka barrage is completed as early as possible and gives water to irrigation. Otherwise, the Penganga river would cause floods and damage standing crops.

It may be recalled here that the Andevelli bridge constructed on Peddavagu collapsed as two pillars sank, in the Sirpur region in 2023.

Panchayat Raj minister Seethakka recently visited the site of construction and asked officials to speed up the works and complete them before the monsoon.

First, two pillars of the bridge sank due to illegal sand mining and later a major portion of the bridge collapsed.

There already is a diversion road to the bridge that connects Dahegaon and Bheemini mandals and it enables road connectivity to the 57 villages in the two mandals.

People of many villages of Kagaznagar and Dahegaon mandals had crossed the overflowing Peddavagu at Andevelli by risking their lives, on boats made of thermocol sheets. This was after the bridge that was constructed on the Peddavagu in Kagaznagar mandal collapsed last year in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.

The temporary road was also washed away due to heavy inflows.

T Laxminarayana, DE for roads and buildings for Kagaznagar sub-division, told Deccan Chronicle that five new pillars and one abutment and six slabs were laid as part of repairs to the existing bridge that collapsed last year. The works have been taken up with `13. 5 crore allocated by the state government.

He said, “We are going to lay the sixth slab tomorrow and it needs 28 days to cure. Later, we will allow vehicle movement through the bridge and allow the people to use the bridge in case the diversion road being used by the commuters right now is washed away in the floods.”

Otherwise, Laxminarayana said, “We will allow the people to use the bridge after one week and do the finishing works simultaneously.”