VIJAYAWADA: NTR District Collector G Srijana has instructed officials to identify and report on encroachments along Budameru rivulet as part of the State government’s priority project, ‘Operation Budameru,’ which aims to provide a permanent solution to flooding.
The Collector held a review at the Collectorate on Friday, with the officials including survey, land records, irrigation, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), and revenue departments. On the occasion, she instructed them to conduct joint field inspections and submit a comprehensive report on the encroachments, including survey numbers. During the meeting, Srijana highlighted that the recent heavy rains in the Budameru area resulted in around 40,000 cusecs of water flooding low-lying areas and crop fields, affecting more than two lakh families in the city. She emphasised that a permanent solution to the flooding is necessary, and ‘Operation Budameru’ has been announced to address this issue.
She further said that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu stayed at the Collectorate for over 10 days, overseeing relief efforts, counselling victims, and assisting the affected families. As part of the government’s plan to prevent future floods, she stressed the need for accurate reports on encroachments, noting that the removal of these encroachments would be carried out on a war footing without causing any inconvenience to residents.
The Collector emphasised the importance of removing silt and encroachments to increase the flow capacity of floodwaters. She highlighted the need to enhance the Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC) to prevent flooding.