Minister blames Polavaram project for delayed outflow at Bhadrachalam

Hyderabad: The water level in Godavari river at Bhadrachalam town, which was in spate due to incessant rains, has now started receding even as the state government continued to maintain relief camps for flood victims, Telangana Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said on Tuesday.

He said the flood level in the river is expected to come down in one and one and half hours, below the third warning level and it will continue to recede further.

"Earlier, Godavari flood flow used to have equal inflow and outflow. But this time the outflow was slow. As we mentioned earlier, Telangana will see an uncomfortable situation due to the Polavaram project work," Ajay Kumar said.

He opined that the outflow was slow this time as the Andhra Pradesh government finished fixing the gates of Polavaram project and also the water levels may have been retained in those seven mandals, which were transferred to the neighbouring state from Telangana in 2014.

There is a chance that once the Polavaram project is completed, water levels at Bhadrachalam will permanently remain 45.5 ft. "So earlier also we demanded that the height of the Polavaram project has to be reduced," he recalled.

The Minister said Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao assured them that he would send a team of experts to suggest the measures to be taken on a permanent basis to strengthen the bunds along the Godavari River so that the temple town is safeguarded.

Ajay Kumar said as many as eight power sub-stations, which were affected due to floods have been completely restored and power supply to 240 villages was disrupted due to floods. Electricity was restored in 223 villages.

Dewatering is being done on war footing at the temple premises and will be completed by this afternoon, he further said.

According to him, about 25,000 people have been sent to rehabilitation centres before the floods which is the largest evacuation and rehabilitation programme the state has ever taken up.