Expert committee on Polavaram back water asked to submit report by Nov 6

Special Chief Secretary(Irrigation) Rajath Kumar has asked the Expert committee on Polavaram back water asked to submit report by Nov 6

Hyderabad: Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajath Kumar has asked the expert committee to prepare a detailed comprehensive report on the flood hazards being frequently encountered by the inhabitants of Bhadradri Kothagudem district along with necessary recommendations for permanent remedial measures to be undertaken including the shifting of badly affected colonies to other locations to be placed before the Cabinet for seeking the government approval by November 6.

Rajath Kumar, who on Friday held a review meeting on Godavari floods that occurred in July and backwater effect of Polavaram Project during the floods, asked the Expert Committee headed by B Nagendra Rao, which was formed to come up with the suitable measures for combating the frequent flood affecting the Bhadradri Kothagudem District, to take steps to submit the report at the earliest so that they could get government approval.

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The Expert Committee stated that Bhadradri Kothagudem district gets affected due to Polavaram project in 3 ways- backwater, standing water inundation and drainage congestion of local streams. Explaining about the standing water Inundation due to Impounding of Polavaram at FRL issue, the committee stated that the standing water at FRL ( 45.72 m/ 150 ft) which is likely to be maintained for about 8 months was resulting in submergence of 892 acres of land in Telangana during floods. Further, three outfall regulators namely, Vista Complex, Kotha Colony and Etapaka was also getting blocked. Besides, stagnation of drain and rain water occur round the clock at the out fall sluices and need continuous pumping with high discharge pumps.

The Expert Committee stated that during July floods it has noticed the variance in observed past flood values and mathematical study outcomes carried out by the Central Water Commission(CWC). It observed that during the July floods, estimated maximum flood discharge at Polavaram, CWC had reported as 21.59 lakh cusecs against estimated maximum flood discharge of 24.22 lakh cusecs at Bhadrachalam clearly indicating afflux which is the backwater effect due to non-free flow condition at Polavaram.

The Expert Committee has opined that this happened primarily due to local drainage congestion of 36 streams (joining river Godavari) caused by the Polavaram backwaters for a flood of 21.59 lakh cusecs apart from river morphology changes. It has also brought to the notice that 46 villages would come under submergence if the MFD attains 36 lakh cusecs at Polavaram. During this July flood, 103 villages were submerged covering an area of 40,446 acres and displacing a population of 28,000.

On the issue of effect of drainage congestion on local streams, the committee stated that the only possible solution for drainage of the low-lying area of Bhadrachalam town and the adjoining Burgampahad and Sarapaka would be continuous pumping. A separate Operation&Maintenance(O&M) action plan have to be implemented to operate these pumping stations every year.