Hydrology experts, irrigation engineers and State Water Resource Department authorities are keeping their fingers crossed on the impact of the record inflow of flood into Polavaram project.
The last Godavari flood had damaged the project's diaphragm wall due to some technical problems, leading to an estimated additional cost of ₹600 crore to rebuild the facility, according to Water Resource Minister Ambati Rambabu.
Meanwhile, experts have been tasked with finding a robust solution on how to proceed with the damaged diaphragm wall. However, they are yet to offer any scientific conclusion and solution for it.
On Monday, Mr. Rambabu, Water Resources Department Secretary Sashibhushan Kumar and Polavaram project engineers inspected the spillway, upper cofferdam and lower cofferdam on the project site in the wake of a record inflow of the flood water into the project.
The national project is presently capable of storing 40 tmcft of water during the ongoing construction phase. The project engineers are on the task of releasing the entire inflow into the sea without storing it on the project site anyway.
In an official release issued by West Godavari Collector V. Prasanna Venkatesh, an additional inflow of 14 lakh cusecs of flood water was expected to reach the Polavaram irrigation project by Tuesday morning.
In an interaction with the West Godavari officials and irrigation authorities, Minister Rambabu directed them to tackle the record flood water inflow into the Polavaram project and its downstream.
“The flood mitigation plan should ensure that there should not be any human loss. All the affected people in the low-lying areas must be evacuated”, Mr. Rambabu directed the officials.
