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Andhra Pradesh
By M. Malleswara Rao
Having its own fears, the Government and the agencies connected with the Pushkarams put up a bold face resting their hopes on the one month that is still available. Like in the case of the Krishna, 2002 was the "worst year'' for the Godavari as well. The impact of last year's monsoon failure and the subsequent dry spell with severe heat wave running through the summer was such that today the mighty river is dry even at Bhadrachalam. However, the Government is hopeful going by the track record of the Godavari and is expecting 2003 to be a "normal year'' with good inflows during the July-August period. P. Sitapati Rao, advisor to the Government, irrigation, who has been made special officer for Pushkaram works, cites 1986 when the river had its "worst floods'' with an inflow of 36 lakh cusecs and 1953 which saw the next best inflows at 24 lakh cusecs, both surprisingly on August 16. For the present, only a poor inflow of about 3,000 cusecs is reaching Dowlaiswaram. All the tributaries are flowing in trickles except the Sabari. A bright turn is possible because the river's catchment is very large (3.12 lakh sq km), with tributaries such as the Sabari, Pranahita, and the Indravathi changing the situation significantly, and absence of any big storage points except Sriramsagar whose capacity, however, tumbled to 90 tmcft due to siltation. The Irrigation Department has embarked upon the biggest programme to construct or renovate bathing ghats at a record number of 164 places along the river's 600-km course across seven districts in the State. Work on them has reached a feverish pitch with the deployment of thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers at centres such as Rajahmundry, which is being given a facelift with road-widening and beautification, Kaleswaram, Bhadrachalam, Kotipalli, Basar, etc. To the good fortune of the civic bodies of these places, which have a hand-to-mouth existence, the Irrigation Department is spending huge amounts not only on ghats but on civic amenities as well. According to the department's Secretary, C. V. S. K. Sarma, a major chunk of Rs 26.82 crores of the programme has already been spent. Most works have been completed and the rest are to be finished by mid-July. The Irrigation and Endowment departments, separately or together, are also renovating a number of temples. The one on the Pattiseema hillock in the middle of the river is being provided with a protection wall and new mantapams. Mantapams are being repaired in the Kotipalli temple, while water tanks in its front are being paved to avoid seepage. An interesting construction at Rajahmundry where three massive Pushkaram ghats have come up, is an umbrella-type structure under which hundreds of pilgrims can take bath, an alternative if the Godavari is dry. The Govenment is buying five launches from Kerala for deploying them in the river during the Pushkarams with expert swimmers on board as a safety measure.
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