Expert help on the way for flood-prone Amaravati

: The government on Saturday issued a G.O for constituting an expert committee which will study flood management of Kondaveeti Vagu and its in-fall drains and suggest cost effective and ‘fail-safe’ solutions to ensure that the capital city Amaravati is free from inundation even under maximum flood conditions either from Kondaveeti Vagu in Guntur district or from the River Krishna.

M. Venkateswara Rao, Engineer-in-Chief of Water Resources Department (WRD), has been appointed chairman of the committee. It will comprise the following persons as members: Rajendra Prasad, Department of Geophysics of Andhra University, V.C. Goel, Director, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Srinivas of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Mishra/Sumana of WAPCOS, Delhi, retired engineers-in-chief B.S.N Reddy and M.K. Rehman, retired chief engineer I.S.N. Raju, K. Papa Rao, OSD to Minister of WRD and Chief Engineer of Amaravati Development Company.

The Chairman & Managing Director of Amaravati Development Company, who is responsible for construction works of the capital city, has been mandated to take further action.

The Commissioner of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) has proposed to constitute a committee that would arrive at effective flood management of Kondaveeti Vagu and its in-falling drains to prevent flooding of the capital city.

It is to be noted that villages like Mandadam get inundated by the storm water as nearly 4,000 to 5,000 cusecs of flood discharge is recorded from Kondaveeti Vagu every year. The stream passes through Achampeta, Tadikonda, Amaravati and Mangalagiri mandals and merges into the Krishna River, upstream of Prakasam Barrage.

The overflowing Kondaveeti Vagu, which originates in the Kondaveedu Hill Range, has been causing havoc in Tadikonda and Amaravati mandals for several years.

The stream swells up when waters from medium drains like Ayanna Vagu, Pottella Vagu and Pala Vagu flow into it. As the waters flow dangerously above the numerous causeways on Amaravati road, traffic comes to a stand still on the Guntur-Amaravati road during peak monsoon.

Panel to suggest steps to tackle threat from Kondaveeti Vagu and the Krishna