The Central government’s ambitious plan to develop the inland waterways/canal navigation has impacted the completion of water treatment plant of a capacity of 11 Million Gallons a Day (MGD) on Gangireddula Dibba in Gunadala.
Sources say Irrigation Department has asked the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to halt the construction of the intake well, which has been taken up upstream Prakasam Barrage in view of canal navigation proposals. The Corporation has so far completed more than 60 per cent of works, VMC officials say.
The Corporation has almost completed laying of pipeline from Head Water Works to Gangireddula Dibba via Canal Road. Only a small stretch from Boddubomma Centre to Head Water Works is remaining, when the VMC received the communication. The higher-ups, however, are clueless when they would get the clearance for completion of works, sources said.
A proposal to construct a sluice to draw the water from Krishna River has also hit roadblock with the State government (in combined Andhra Pradesh) taking up the delta modernisation works, according to VMC officials.
The Gunadala filtration plant is mired in controversy and problems ever since it was mooted in 2008 as both the VMC and the Irrigation Department have been at loggerheads. The Corporation had planned to construct the water treatment plant so as to draw water from Ryve’s canal, supply it to more than three lakh people after treatment. However, the Irrigation Department was apprehensive of the possible adverse impact of the plant on the availability of water for irrigation to the tail-end areas of the canal.
The VMC officials, however, argue that they will draw only 20 cusecs of canal water a day, as against the canal’s carriage capacity of 2,000 cusecs a day. This means that the Corporation plans to draw only one per cent of the total flow, which would not hinder supply to the tail-end areas, the officials say. The VMC has laid a pipeline to draw water from the barrage in summer.
Irrigation Dept. asks VMC to halt construction of the intake well in view of the proposals
The higher-ups are clueless when they would get clearance for completion of works
