PNS | BHADRACHALAM
Proposals to build flood banks to River Godavari in the temple town for a distance of 85 km, as against the earlier proposed 110 km at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore were submitted to the state government.
In a week, a State-level committee, headed by Engineer-in-Chief Nagendra Prasad, is likely to visit the temple to study the feasibility.
The Irrigation authorities feel that it is advisable to build the flood banks to the river as the place is a pilgrimage centre and as there is no scope for relocation of the heavy water plant from here.
It is proposed to build flood banks for a distance of 45 km in bits. In the region, there are 36 streams on either side of the river in the region. Eight of t hem will discharge 800-1000 cusecs of flood water into the river during rainy season. At some places, it is advisable to build protective wall instead of the flood banks.
On the other side of the river from Burgampahad to Aswapuram, separated by a distance of 40 km, flood banks are proposed to be built.
Once the Polaaram project is through, Bhadrachalam and Burgampahad mandals would receive back water problem. The flood banks are proposed to withstand a heavy flood of the range of at least 36 lakh cusecs of water.
The existing flood bank height to river Godavari at Bhadrachalam would be increased by another 20 feet. In 1999, the flood bank was built at a height of 80 feet. However, under the impact of the floods, it shrunk to 75 feet.
