OLERU: Are the greed of a few people and the gross negligence on the part of irrigation officials besides the lack of foresight of the R&B department, the actual reason behind the breach in the bund near Oleru village, which is the largest breach in the current floods, leading to inundation of 30 villages besides possible inundation of Repalle town? It does seem so given the reasons that are being currently sighted by the irrigation officials and the ministers also.
The irrigation officials, just as Express had pointed out yesterday, said that sluices were the major reason behind the current breach besides many such small and emerging breaches across the length of the bund on both sides of the Krishna river.
Before getting into the nitty gritty, let us understand the topography of the area. An aerial view would show people that banana farms and other orchards exist on the Krishna riverbed close to the bund. Close to the bund is the Krishna western canal which supplies water to the Krishna western delta in Guntur district.
There were fish ponds earlier, which required water, which had to be drawn from the KWC, as the Krishna river was much farther and at a lower level.
People drove holes into the bund, which could fit a 15 inch pipe into it to draw water from the KWC. Moreover, the officials lacked the foresight that these 15 inch sluices would breach the bund, inundating several villages.They did not check if these sluices were sealed properly.
As the current increased in the river, the sluices started to give way leading to inundation of water. Once the water got the way, it started to cut the bund at a much faster rate.It is estimated that the breach, which has currently inundated around 30 villages could even engulf Repalle. Several such pipelines were laid in 15 km length right from Penumudi village to Lankavani dibba village.
Meanwhile, another factor which helped the breach develop was the fact that the R&B department had recently started to cut the upper quarter of the bund in an effort to widen road by spreading it along with some other gravel to make it a double road. Besides most of the soil being used to lay the road being loose, started to give way easily for the water, leading to the big breach.