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Andhra Pradesh latest news : Tungabhadra project… five districts are flooded. It has a total area of 12 lakh acres in Raichur, Koppal, Bellary in Karnataka, Kurnool and Anantapur districts in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from this, 10 TMC has to be supplied to KC Canal and 6.9 TMC to RDS.
This project is the basis for the water needs of many towns and industries. Although a report was prepared four years ago on the maintenance and safety measures of such an important dam, no step has been taken. Tungabhadra has been selected by the Center under the Dam Rehabilitation and Development Project (DRIP) but the work has not started. The recommendations of the expert committee were not implemented. As a result, a gate was washed away two days ago.
The lifespan of the gates is 45 years
Tungabhadra project was first filled in 1953. Experts said that the lifespan of a concrete dam is 100 years, while the lifespan of gates is 45 years. It has been seven decades since the dam came into use. The dam was built according to the flow of water at that time. The quantity of flood to be released through the spillway is finalized. If we look at these 70 years, the maximum flood water flow in the river has increased. Accordingly, there is a need to increase the spillway capacity. In this background, the Central Hydropower Department has included ‘Tungabhadra’ in the second phase of DRIP undertaken with World Bank funds. A report was prepared in November 2020 detailing the work to be undertaken for the safety of the right and left sides of the dam, spillway and gates.
Failure to assess the actual situation
A team of experts led by the Chairman of the Dam Safety Review Panel Committee, former CWC Chairman AK Bajaj inspected the Tungabhadra Dam in October 2021. After thorough consideration of all the issues, recommendations were made on 65 issues. The report of this committee has also been incorporated in the annual report of Tungabhadra Board 2022-23. The committee suggested that the gates should be inspected every year before the onset of flood during the monsoon season.
The Tungabhadra Board says that they are strictly following these recommendations. However, the question arises as to why the condition of the gate was not assessed if the inspection was done before the current monsoon season. Experts are of the opinion that even if the gates are rusted and the strength of the gates is weakened, they are not able to assess their actual condition by painting and maintaining them. On the instructions of the Bajaj Committee, experts from the Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) in Tamil Nadu took material samples of the gates and analyzed them in early 2023. The relevant report was received by the Tungabhadra Board in September of the same year. The board raised some objections and asked to make changes to this extent and give a final report.
It is learned that the final report of CECRI is yet to come. However, there is an opinion that the current situation has arisen due to the fact that the problem has been identified but not adequately responded to.
