Storage at Prakasam Barrage to improve

Prakasam Barrage, the last of the reservoir projects on the Krishna, is going to have increased water storage or pounding capacity once the ongoing dredging works are completed.

Early this year, the State government has approved a ₹102 crore project for desilting the Krishna river in a stretch of about 13 kilometres upstream of Prakasam Barrage.

“The works began in September and are supposed to be completed in a year. Once the desilting is completed the storage capacity of the barrage will increase by 0.5 tmc ft,” says Water Resources Department, Vijayawada Circle Superintending Engineer A. Muralikrishna Reddy. The annual and operational maintenance of the barrage is going on uninterrupted as per the schedule and requirements, he adds.

While the storage capacity of the barrage increases, the threat of inundation of colonies in Ramalingeswara Nagar, Krishnalanka and other areas will continue until the flood protection wall construction is completed.

The construction of the 1.5-km-long flood protection wall at Krishnalanka was taken up at a cost of over ₹122 crore in April this year. The wall is supposed to protect over 3,000 households from inundation during floods. Over 31,000 people residing in the low-lying areas of Ranigari Thota, Bhupesh Gupta Nagar, Taraka Rama Nagar and other localities face flooding after the discharge at the barrage crosses two lakh cusecs.