AMARAVATI: The irrigation authorities at Somasila project in Nellore district are on their toes as flood level is increasing in the reservoir.
The authorities had a tough time last year in lifting crest gates during floods. Although they averted a crisis at the eleventh hour by managing to lift the gates, the recent incident of a crest gate washing away at Pulichintala project due to heavy floods is worrying the administration.
Irrigation minister Anil Kumar Yadav recently reviewed the situation and directed the officials to avoid slip-ups.
The water level at Somasila project has already touched 68 tmc ft against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 72 tmc ft. Heavy rains in upstream areas are leading to increase in water level at the project.
However, the officials are anticipating that the water reserves would reach FRL in another three or four days. Although the project authorities have managed to overcome several issues since the tough time faced during the last flood, the remote control system to operate the crest gates is yet to be fully repaired.
This would force the officials to operate the gates in manual mode and any technical glitch in the eleventh hour might repeat the Pulichintala kind of mishap during the floods. The authorities lifted the gates at Somasila on September 16 last year to let out water. However, they faced trouble when they tried to lift the gates a fortnight later when the power supply was snapped due to heavy floods in the region.
The diesel generator which was kept on stand-by could not pump energy required to lift the gates. The officials had to down the gates before lifting them again with difficulty. The gantry crane available at the project was yet to be tested for its operational efficacy in spite of knowing it was the most needed machine to fix the stop gates during the emergency. “We have kept everything ready to operate the gates. We will go for manual operation of the gates,” said K Dhanunjay, executive engineer
