No progress on Peddavagu project revival after two years

Nearly two years after a major breach, the Peddavagu irrigation project remains defunct, with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana yet to decide on fund sharing. Farmers have lost multiple crop seasons as reconstruction works have not begun despite repeated assurances.

Kothagudem: It has been close to two years since the Peddavagu project, a joint irrigation project located on the border of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, remained defunct after it was breached in July 2024, yet there are no signs of its revival.

The governments of both the States are yet to come to an understanding on rebuilding the medium irrigation project at Gummadavalli in Aswaraopet mandal in the district, as it is assumed that carrying out repairs would yield no result.

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The project suffered a 250-metre-long breach as officials failed to lift the crest gates that malfunctioned after it received massive inflows following heavy rains in its catchment on July 18, 2024.

A ring bund built on the left side of the spillway was washed away due to floods in the first week of September in the same year due to alleged poor quality of works. The incident caused heavy loss to farmers in both the States.

The project, with a storage capacity of 40,000 cusecs, was completed in 1981 and provides irrigation to nearly 16,000 to 16,500 acres, of which 2,360 acres fall in Telangana, and the rest in AP.

As it is a joint project, funds are to be allocated in the ratio of 80 percent from AP and 20 percent from Telangana for its rebuilding. No concrete decision has been taken on funds sharing even as several higher-level meetings were held in Hyderabad and Amaravati.

Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao’s assurance to increase the project storage capacity to 80,000 cusecs and set up three additional gates as part of the project reconstruction is yet to take shape.

CPI AP state secretary G Eswaraiah and Kothagudem district secretary Shaik Sabir Pasha led a padayatra in April seeking both AP and Telangana governments to take immediate steps to rebuild the project.

Eswaraiah wrote a letter to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu seeking allocation of Rs 500 crore for the purpose. Sabir Pasha stated that the farmers in both the States have already lost four crop seasons and might lose another one as reconstruction works have not yet commenced.

Meanwhile, Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) Chairman P Dorje Gyamba, who visited the project in April, assured farmers that the project would be restored to its former glory.