Eighty two-year-old Parepalli Adinarayana Murthy could be content with his retired life in the comfort of his house at Mangalagiri (Guntur district). Instead he chose to fight against the poor maintenance of the ‘under sluice gates’ of Prakasam barrage and illegal structures coming up around the river and on its banks.
Mr. Murthy is one of the civil engineers of Irrigation (CAD) Department involved in the construction of the barrage in late 1950s. He is upset with the poor maintenance of sluice gates which, according to him, were opened only five to six times since then. The consequence of this is formation of islands in the river bed caused by silt that accumulated over the decades.
Besides, tourism projects like hill parks, ropeways and luxury resorts are being built along the river banks and in the reservoir in alleged violation of norms, he said.
Citing these irregularities, Mr. Murthy has been sending petitions to successive governments and people’s representatives seeking steps for de-silting upstream Prakasam barrage, conducting repairs to 14 ‘under sluice gates’ (six and eight in Krishna and Guntur districts) and keeping a check on tourism projects which posed a threat to the river system.
His latest correspondence was to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi (dated June 19). For this he has received acknowledgment from the Prime Minister’s Office but whether the PM will pay due attention to the issue remains to be seen.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Murthy said he even wrote to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu recently and is yet to hear from him. He pointed out that encroachments upstream of the reservoir resulted in change of course of the river and massive deposits of silt hindered the flow.
Due to irregular conduct of repairs to sluice gates and lack of de-silting, sand islands were forming in the reservoir upstream. If necessary action is not taken in right earnest, meeting the requirement of farmers and drinking water needs in Krishna and Guntur districts will become a daunting task, he warned.
