The Hindu : Front Page : Pulichintala dam fully submerged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Pulichintala dam fully submerged

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Pulichintala dam across the Krishna, now under construction, was submerged following heavy discharge of water from Nagarjunasagar, about 80 km upstream.

Some equipment and cement bags on left bank of the river were also washed away as the river swelled at the spot due to the water release. B. S. N. Reddy, Engineer-in-Chief (Administration), Irrigation, told The Hindu that concrete- mixing and cooling plants were, however, safe as they were installed at a higher elevation. About 75,000 cubic metres of concrete work costing about Rs. 28 crore has so far been completed since the grounding of the project two years ago. The dam structure has been built up to a height of 10 metres on an average above the river-bed but the depth of water at the site is nearly ten to 12 metres.

Construction quality

The releases from Sagar, through the spill-way or the main powerhouse, touched a high of 3 lakh cusecs on Sunday. Three out of the 10 crest-gates that were opened on Saturday, have since been closed. The submerged structure, however, will resurface intact if its construction quality is good, once the water level recedes.

The Government originally planned to impound at least 15 tmcft of water at Pulichintala with the help of the partially built structure but gave up the move. The construction company stopped work following a dispute over the number of crest-gates to be installed. Now, a decision has been taken to erect 24 gates for the project instead of 33 envisaged earlier following the Central Water Commission’s recommendation.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page