VIJAYAWADA: Expressing satisfaction over the flood rescue and relief efforts for the past nine days in Vijayawada, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said the conditions are steadily returning to normalcy as the relief operations are in its final phase.
Naidu said that he was racked with pain after seeing the suffering of the flood victims.
“I was determined to restore the normalcy at the earliest and minimise the suffering of flood victims. Our entire administration was engaged in flood relief operations and finally, after nine days, normalcy is being restored at a steady pace in the city,” he told the media during an inspection at Ajit Singh Nagar of Vijayawada on Monday.
He maintained that it was the sins of the previous dispensation that had resulted in such a severe calamity that affected the lives of more than 2.3 lakh families.
Asserting that his government will do everything to bring the lives of flood victims back on the right track by helping them in every way possible, he said, “Several have lost everything and there is a need to extend a helping hand to them.”
Naidu said with the help of APCO and other organisations, clothes will be provided to the victims, who have lost everything, including their clothes in the flood.
He reiterated that operation Budameru will commence and encroachments of Budameru flood banks, which were encouraged by the previous government will be taken care of to avert such disasters from happening again. Lashing at the previous YSRC government, Naidu accused it of leaving a legacy of destruction, devastation, and debts.
“However, we will rise up to this challenge and ensure a better future for the people of the State, no stone will be left unturned,” he assured.
Fortification of Budameru Bunds underway
We strove hard day and night to plug the breaches in Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC) and finally we patched the holes, said Minister for Water Resources Nimmala Ramanaidu.
Speaking to TNIE, he revealed, "To fortify the build further, we are constructing another layer of bund with a gap of 4 metres and filling the space with black cotton soil as part of a strategy suggested by Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu."
The Minister, along with Mylavaram MLA Vasanta Krishna Prasad, and ENC M Venkateswara Rao found erosion of the bund at Gaddekaluva Locks in Elaprolu during an inspection and subsequently directed the engineering officials to strengthen the bund on a war footing.
Additionally, Minister Ramanaidu inspected the sites of the three breaches which were plugged and found heavy seepage in the major breach. The patch would be further fortified using concrete mettle and geotextile technology.
“It has been a horrendous task, but we succeeded. This is different from breaches in other canals like in Godavari districts. In those areas, the floodwater inundates fields, some villages with a few thousand people. However, in the case of Budameru, lakhs of people were affected. Hence, we were worried, but our efforts came through and breaches were plugged successfully,” he said.
After sewing the breaches in BDC, the focus has now shifted to expansion of Kolleru outlets, which is being fed with the surplus water from Budameru and other water bodies. “We have to ensure that surplus water drains into the sea, or else there might be a reverse flow,” he informed.