Kothagudem: Massive breach in Peddavagu project, reservoir turns empty

The breach in the project bund occurred on Thursday night as the crest gates of the project malfunctioned and one of the three gates was not opened.

Kothagudem: Massive breach in Peddavagu medium irrigation project at Gummadavalli village in Aswaraopet mandal in the district emptied the reservoir dashing the hopes of thousands of farmers who depend on it to feed the crops.

The breach in the project bund occurred on Thursday night as the crest gates of the project malfunctioned and one of the three gates was not opened. The floodwaters from the upper catchment, which includes areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, flowed into the reservoir.

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The reservoir received heavy inflows as several tanks in Buttaigudem of AP breached. While 35, 000 cusecs of water was released from the two gates, the inflow unexpectedly reached 70, 000 cusecs.

As a result floodwaters flowed over the reservoir earth bund and finally caused a 250 metre long breach by the side of the project spillway. The water from the project inundated Gummadavalli, Koyarangapuram, Kothur and Ramanakkapet in Kothagudem district; Kammarigudem, Ontibanda, Koyamadaram, Kothapuchirala, Pathapuchirala, Allurinagar, Sondigollagudem, Vasanthavada, Gullavai and Velerupadu of Eluru district. Knee deep water was standing in the affected villages and around 2000 families were said to have been shifted to safe locations.

The project located on Telangana and AP borders and which was completed in 1981 provides irrigation to nearly 16,000 acres, of which 2360 acres fall in Telangana and 13640 acres in Andhra Pradesh. The project suffered a breach in 1989.

It was alleged that the negligence of officials was said to have led to the breach in the project, which lacked proper maintenance. Sometime back the irrigation officials have proposed to take up repairs to the project with Rs 100 crore.

As the project was a common one for Telangana and AP, both the States had to bear the maintenance costs in the ratio of 15:85 but the AP government had not released its share. Godavari River Management Board alerted AP government regarding the project maintenance and safety, irrigation officials said.

Kothagudem district Collector Jithesh V Patil and Superintendent of Police B Rohith Raju along with irrigation officials visited the project on Friday and took stock of the situation. According to irrigation officials, Rs 20 crore would be required to fill up the breach.