KTR: Sand Mining at Annaram Risky
It is a mandated operation, say officials
Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Monday accused the state government of actively undermining the safety of the Annaram barrage on Godavari river by allowing largescale sand mining right next to its foundations.
Rama Rao, in a statement, said, “the BRS demands immediate stopping of all sand mining next to the barrage and take action against all those involved in the activity.” Rama Rao said that after conspiring against the Medigadda barrage, there appeared to be similar conspiracies to push the Annaram barrage into danger.
He said excavating sand right next to the barrage foundations was not only illegal but also dangerous as it could affect the structure’s stability. “This appears to be yet another attempt to create conditions at the barrage and use that situation to blame the BRS once again. The Congress had been conspiring against the Kaleshwaram project from the beginning, and now it was pushing the Annaram barrage into a danger zone by allowing sand removal from near the barrage pillars and foundations,” Rama Rao said.
“The sand removal at Annaram is an example of daylight robbery by the sand mafia supported by the Congress government and if anything happens to the barrage henceforth, the responsibility for the same will be that of the Congress government,” Rama Rao said.
Replying to Rama Rao’s allegations, an irrigation department official said sand casting at the Annaram barrage is a regular phenomenon as the barrage spillway was built as per designs between 6 and 8 metres below the natural river bed level. The Maneru river joins the Godavari upstream of Annaram and the water brings with it a lot of sand. With the barrage structure under the river bed level, accumulation of sand is unavoidable and it must be dredged regularly.
“Whenever Godavari is in flood, the sand gets deposited at the barrage. It was also recently explained to the irrigation department that sand must be removed, not just near the barrage but up to 10 km upstream, but this has not been heeded to and sand is being removed only close to the barrage after the mining department approved the removal,” another source involved in the discussions related to the subject said.
“For now this may be okay as the water level has fallen but if the focus is in removing sand only close to the barrage, that could create problems when the river experiences flooding again,” the source said.