892 acres to be submerged in backwater of Polavaram

Telangana has informed the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) that the floods in Godavari in July inundated 103 villages, submerging 40,446 acres in the State. .

As it is, as much as 892 acres of agricultural land will be submerged in the backwater of Polavaram project in five villages on either side of Godavari from Bhadrachalam to Dummugudem within the State.

The submergence will be caused by standing water at the full reservoir level (FRL) of 150 ft, the authority was told at a meeting of irrigation officials of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to address the concerns of the former State on backwater impact of the project.

The Engineer-in-Chief of Telangana C. Muralidhar informed the authority that the water depth at Bhadrachalam would be more than 28 ft throughout the year at the minimum drawdown level and 43 ft at FRL. Due to backwater, there was also a problem of local drainage congestion along the river banks. About 35 major and medium streams add to the congestion on either side of the river.

The only solution for drainage of water in low-lying areas of Bhadrachalam town and adjoining Burgampahad and Sarapaka would be continuous pumping.

Mr. Muralidhar stressed the need for demarcation and mapping of areas affected by Kinnerasani river and 35 streams. The government of Andhra Pradesh failed to demarcate the areas affected by stagnation along Kinnerasani and Murreduvagu stream. Beside demarcation, the AP government should be asked to inform the PPA of the operation schedule of the gates on the spillway of the project.

He regretted that the AP government did not submit the detailed project report of an unauthorised lift-irrigation scheme taken up by the State from dead storage level of Polavaram. AP was asked to stop all activities and submit the DPR for appraisal by Godavari river management board and Central Water Commission at the PPA meeting in November last year.