The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rubber dam across Vamsadhara too

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Monday, Oct 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rubber dam across Vamsadhara too

M. Malleswara Rao

The dam will make a small-time impounding, avoiding submergence of land in Orissa

HYDERABAD: Going by the success of the rubber dam installed across the Janjhavathi, the State Government has decided to procure two more rubber dams for erection across the Vamsadhara and the Musi.

A rubber dam has finally been opted to impound waters of the Vamsadhara to avoid objections from Orissa. Andhra Pradesh, indeed, proposed to construct the Neredi barrage across the river to utilise at least 8 tmcft of water but could not even ground the works for the past 30 years due to the objections raised by Orissa against the submergence in its territory.

Survey findings

A survey conducted at the instance of the Central Water Commission found that the area in Orissa which would be submerged under Neredi reservoir, however, would be only 106 acres. The Orissa Government did not accept this survey and approached the Supreme Court instead. Orissa reacted similarly when Andhra Pradesh proposed a “diversion scheme” as an alternative, saying this scheme would change the river course.

Left with no other alternative, the State now turned to the rubber dam as a last resort. The rubber dam, which can be inflated up to a 30-metre height, will make a small-time impounding, avoiding submergence of a large area. The reservoir can be emptied when not wanted, by deflating the rubber dam.

Major Irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah told this correspondent here on Saturday that the State’s third rubber dam would be laid across the Musi in Hyderabad as part of the Musi improvement project.

A delegation from Austria which supplied the rubber dam to Janjhavathi, offered two more for being used on the Vamsadhara and the Musi.

The Government, in turn, asked the delegation to come back with technical details. Austrian experts are likely to take up a survey of the points where the Government wants to erect rubber dams across these two rivers.

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