Polavaram Backwaters Threat To Bhadradri District: Rajat Kumar

Adding chorus to the statement of Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, who alleged yesterday that the historic Bhadradri Lord Rama temple and the parnasala were inundated by flood waters due to the Polavaram project being constructed across the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh, Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar said that the backwaters of the Polavaram project were one of the reasons for the submergence of many areas in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Kumar said that the State government had submitted many study reports to the union government on the possible threat to the historical places and submergence of many areas in Bhadradri Kothagudem district due to the construction of the Polavaram project.

The State government had also brought the matter to the notice of the union government on several occasions, but there was no response from the Centre, Kumar said.

Speaking specifically about the Kadem project, he said that the vicinity of the project had received heavy rains that leds to the unprecedented floods.

He said that the irrigation department had taken up all the necessary repair works to the project, and that there was no imminent danger to the project.

Refuting allegations that it would take at least Rs. 400 crore to repair the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project pump houses that were submerged in the floodwaters, Kumar said that the repair expenditure wouldn't exceed Rs. 20-25 crore, and that all the repairs would be complete and the pumps would start functioning by September.