HYDERABAD: A high-level meeting of the Irrigation department on Tuesday decided to study flood protection works on rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra for adopting suitable measures on the Godavari river.
A committee comprising Irrigation engineers and external experts was constituted to finalise the report in a month and submit the same to the state government for consideration. Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar held a review at Jala Soudha on Tuesday on the flood situation in the state and on the permanent mitigation measures to be taken.
Experts explained in the meeting that 70 per cent of the rainfall occurs in the catchment of the Kadam project very near the reservoir and flash floods are occurring without allowing much time to operate the gates to create flood cushion. “
It takes at least two hours to lift all the 18 gates, whereas, within one hour, flood rises to three lakh cusecs which is creating problems in flood management,” Dr Rama Raju, consultant of Vassar Labs, who made a presentation on the floods.
He explained that the Kadam gates are 65 years old and they need to be replaced. He also suggested creating additional vent ways which can discharge 1.5 to 2 lakh cusecs additionally for safe flood management. The Decision Support System (DSS) of the department forecasts cloudburst-like situations 12 hours in advance to alert the engineers at the dam site and prepare themselves for flood management, whenever the event occurs.
Rajat Kumar explained that the impact of the Polavaram backwater has been minimised this year, as the government has taken up the matter with Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) well in advance and ensured that all the gates are kept open during the recent floods. He requested the committee to finalise the report for permanent flood mitigation measures to be taken.