The Hindu : Guntur, Eluru may not get Krishna waters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Guntur, Eluru may not get Krishna waters

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, FEB. 21. The Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Eluru Municipality will not receive water from the Krishna for 100 days if the repair work on the concrete apron of the Prakasam Barrage is taken up during this summer, Irrigation Department officials have said.

The Krishna Irrigation Circle Superintending Engineer, I.S.N. Raju, told The Hindu that proposals for repair works estimated at Rs.10.4 crores for strengthening of the concrete apron upstream of the barrage had been sent to the State Government.

With a 12-feet reduction in the level, water would not flow by gravity into the Eastern and Western head sluices. It was therefore mandatory for Guntur and Eluru civic authorities to store drinking water in advance.

There was a three-month window to complete the repair and strengthening works before the monsoon arrived, he pointed out. An action plan was ready for sheet-piling of the concrete apron at a cost of Rs. 8.6 crores. The level of water at the cross-bund would be less by 12 feet. He said that the VTPS had made arrangements to lift water needed to cool three of the units, while the remaining three had cooling towers.

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), which pumped 25 MGD from the river, would be required to make arrangements to pump water from a lower level. Mr. Raju said that a cross-bund would be constructed at a cost of Rs. 71 lakhs at about 50 metres upstream of the barrage.

The level of water would be reduced by 12 feet so that it did not inundate the apron, he added. The capacity of summer storage tanks of Guntur city and Eluru town was limited. Water in the storage tanks would not last more than 45 days and after that alternative arrangements would have to be made, he opined.

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