Hyderabad: The Telangana government has requested the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) and Central Water Commission (CWC) to conduct a comprehensive backwater study and take suitable measures to protect areas likely to be affected in the state. The survey will aid in better understanding backwaters and prevent a large scale submergence.
The backwater studies carried out by CWC and Andhra Pradesh so far only account for 36 lakh cusecs and does not include information on backwater levels, cross sectional profiles at either Bhadrachalam or at the Manuguru Heavy Water Plant.
In a letter to Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), Telangana Irrigation and Command Area Development (I&CAD) Engineer-in-Chief (General) C Muralidhar urged the Union to ascertain the extent of area getting affected in Telangana territory due to backwaters upstream of the Polavaram project by undertaking a comprehensive study for revised Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) of 50 lakhs cusecs.
It was brought to the notice that these important structures including coal mines are likely to be affected by submergence and other effects causing loss and destruction in the areas in Telangana.
In Bhadrachalam and Dummugudem, 74 villages and 92 villages respectively are flood prone and about 1.2 lakh people are likely to be affected by submergence.
The Telangana irrigation department requested for demarcating the areas affected due to drainage congestions along Kinnerasani and Murreduvagu rivers and take necessary safeguards/protection measures against such drainage stagnations.
“A request was made to the AP government for necessary action for demarcation of such areas. The response is still awaited. After examining the detailed possible adverse effects of Polavaram project backwaters, we once again request to conduct a comprehensive backwater study by an independent competent agency at the earliest,” Muralidhar said.
He also urged to take suitable protection measures at the affected areas in Telangana territory and prevent large scale submergence.
