VIJAYAWADA: Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) RP Sisodia has clarified that breaches to the Budameru Diversion Channel could not be anticipated.
He spoke to TNIE after his alleged comments that they had prior information about the increase in floodwater level of Budameru and it would be a difficult task to evacuate more than two lakh people from Ajit Singh Nagar went viral on social media.
A clip of a part of Sisodia’s press conference was played up, and the ‘negligence’ of the government in alerting people despite being aware of the flood situation was debated.
At a media conference on Saturday, Sisodia responding to a question said they had prior information about the rains and increasing floodwater level in the Krishna river.
“Just like when the first warning is issued at Bhadrachalam when the Godavari floodwater level rises, an alert is sounded at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Dowleswaram, and downstream of the barrage, similar alert is sounded to the areas downstream of Prakasam Barrage on the Krishna river when the first flood warning is issued. On the day when the record rainfall occurred upstream of the Krishna, surplus water at the Prakasam Barrage touched 10 lakh cusecs and an alert was issued,” he said.
However, the Special Chief Secretary said the situation with the Budameru is different. Unlike when a tank is full of water, and an alert is sounded downstream of possible breaches, the Budameru indicated no such signs. Increasing inflows into the Budameru Diversion Channel breached the bund and joined the Budameru canal, leading to the flooding, which could not be anticipated, he said, and pointed out that Ajit Singh Nagar and other areas are disaster-prone as the Budameru passes through them.
Sisodia said under such circumstances, it was not possible to give a 24-hour prior alert, and shifting 2 lakh and odd families is not possible. He opined that even if an alert was sounded, the people might not leave as it was observed in the Godavari districts, and forcible evacuation of such a large number would have not been possible.
However, soon after his press conference, social media was abuzz that the government did not alert the people though it was aware of the flood situation. Like adding fuel to the fire, claims of a couple of irrigation officials that they alerted the administration on last Saturday afternoon itself about the rising floodwater level further muddied the waters.
NTR District Collector G Srijana said they got no alert about the rising floodwater level and possible breach, and they were caught unaware. “It was an unforeseen disaster. The floodwater level of Budameru had increased beyond what the diversion channel could handle, resulting in breaches,” she said.
Sisodia clarified that his comments and observations were taken out of context and distorted. “What I wanted to say was that we had prior information of heavy rains in catchment areas of Krishna and Budameru and could not anticipate the breach of bunds, which were weak given the lack of maintenance by the previous dispensation. On an hourly basis, we have been alerting the district administrations and concerned people,” he said.
He made it clear that there was no laxity on their part. “If someone has to be blamed it was the previous dispensation for failing to strengthen the bunds of Budameru. Weak bunds had resulted in breaches leading to flooding of Vijayawada,” he reasoned.
Sisodia elaborated that soon after Singh Nagar and other areas were flooded, NDRF and SDRF were alerted and even services of IAF were enlisted for flood relief operations.