Khammam: RCC wall along Munneru to offer permanent solution for floods

Telangana government has approved construction of a RCC retaining wall along the Munneru river course, thus addressing a decades-old problem

Khammam: Finding a permanent solution for flooding of residential colonies on the banks of river Munneru in Khammam city, the State government has approved construction of a RCC retaining wall along the river course, thus addressing a decades-old problem.

Many proposals were made in the past for the construction of an embankment to stop flooding of the colonies, which came up in the river buffer zone in an unauthorised manner. But if an embankment was constructed, many residents would lose their houses. As a solution to the problem, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar opted for the reinforced cement concrete (RCC) wall on either side of the river course.

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Proposals worth Rs 147 crore were submitted to the State government. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, approving the proposal, sanctioned Rs 150 crore at a Cabinet meeting on Monday. Speaking to Telangana Today, Ajay Kumar thanked the Chief Minister for sanctioning the funds for the RCC wall.

It might be noted that the river recently witnessed unprecedented floods and the water level crossed 30 feet for the first time in the river’s history inundating many colonies. The district administration has initiated the process of rehabilitation of residents in flood affected areas and identified land for that. It was decided to provide double bedroom houses for the residents to move out of the area.

District Collector VP Gautham told the media that instructions were given to the Registration, Municipal, Panchayat Raj and Revenue Departments along with SUDA not to allow registration of house sites, layouts, construction of houses and nala conversion in flood affected areas.

Survey numbers of the flood affected areas would be sent to the Registration Department. Flood zone mapping and a flood manual of the river would be prepared to serve as reference for future use. Maximum flood level pillars would be erected soon based on the recent flood level, he added.