Project to mitigate inundation in Vijayawada forgotten

Vijayawada: Opposition parties and environmentalists have been insisting on the state government and also the civic body over the proper utilisation of funds allocated to the flood water management project aimed at preventing inundation of Vijayawada city.

The project includes proper management of Budameru which often causes floods in the city. It is learnt that the funds were utilised for the Krishna Pushkaralu works keeping the project on backburner.

There are 111 slums in the city which are in a very poor condition, lacking basic civic amenities like proper roads, drainage, protected water supply, streetlights and sanitation.

Studies show that the most common diseases prevalent in slums include gastro-enteritis, malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and ringworm. The slums in the city have a high population density with poor living conditions.

As per the NCPE-2013 report, out of 111 slums, 58 slums are on state government land, 22 on private land, 27 on local body land and four are on railway land.

Further, the slums in the city were segregated based on where they are located — 81 slums are in residential area, 22 in commercial areas and eight are in institutional areas.

There are 20 slums in the city which are located in the flood risk area, particularly in the flood plains of Krishna river and Budameru drain.

Flooding due to Krishna river is common and almost every monsoon people living in the flood plains of Krishna river are affected.

The data on floods over last many years and information collected from irrigation department indicates that floods are mainly caused by release of waters from Nagarjunasagar Dam and rainfall near Vijayawada city has no contribution.
Since the main purpose of the Nagarjunasagar dam is to provide irrigation, the dam authorities try to fill the reservoirs during the monsoon to ensure water availability for the farmers during summer.

The occurrence of severe rainfall due to cyclone or depression during the latter half of the monsoon season in the lower and middle part of Krishna river basin leads to sudden increase in the reservoir level forcing the Nagarjunasagar dam authorities to release water which sometimes may exceed the carrying capacity of the river, according to geo-environmentalist Professor M.J. Rao. This leads to flooding along the downstream areas of Krishna river, he added.