PUDUCHERRY: With the Yanam region of Puducherry on the tail end of the river Godavari threatened by floods, health minister Malladi Krishna Rao has faulted Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for ‘blocking’ the execution of the Rs 137.28 crore flood protection project at Yanam sanctioned by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on July 13, 2018.
The minister, who left Puducherry for Yanam in a jiffy this afternoon, said that the water level in the Godavari has reached 3.4 metres following discharge of 19 lakhs cusecs of water from Dowleswaram barrage at a distance of 75 kilometres from Yanam. If the water level rises further, there remains the threat of a breach in the embankment and flooding of the entire town.
The flood protection project involved raising a revetment wall of 4.85 metres on the embankment and other associated works on a stretch of 15 kilometres to be completed in 18 months. Accordingly the work should have been completed by December 19 with full funding by the Jal Shakti ministry.
The Ministry had also written to the Puducherry government to specify the head of account for releasing the first installment of Rs 52 crore for execution of the project, but the Lt Governor did not give the concurrence certificate for opening the head of account, said the minister.
On the contrary, the Lt Governor had written to the Ministry not to proceed further in the project stating technical reasons for which the PWD was yet to reply. The minister said that the detailed project report was prepared by a consultant from the ministry’s panel after which a team of five technical experts headed by the CPWD Chief Engineer visited Yanam. Based on their report, the project was approved by the Union ministry, he said.
Now, the discharge from Dowleswaram barrage is more due to which water is overflowing from Godavari to Francetippa area where more than 600 families reside. If the water level rises further and there is a breach or the sluices get damaged by the flood waters, it could endanger the town, said Malladi Krishna Rao, adding that the Lt Governor would be held responsible for it.