Boats that drifted in the floodwaters smashed into the Prakasam Barrage. Even as YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's lack of foresightedness responsible for the Vjayawada floods, the latter felt the barrage was damaged to flood the areas downstream.
Published Sep 04, 2024 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 04, 2024 | 11:44 AM
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu suspected that the Prakasam Barrage incident was a deliberate attempt to flood the areas downstream. (CMO Andhra Pradesh/X)
Five boats that drifted in floodwaters and rammed the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada triggered a political slugfest between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Floodwater carried away fishing boats anchored at Ibrahimpatnam, Bhavanipuram, and Gollapudi, and the vessels downstream the Krishna River in spate, before smashing into the barrage on Monday, 2 September. The incident damaged one of the 70 counter-weight gates of the barrage.
Torrential rains wreaked havoc in Andhra Pradesh, resulting in unprecedented inflows — more than 11 lakh cusecs — into the Krishna River.
One of the boats was swept downstream after it had hit the barrage. Another sank and was stuck in one of the gates, while the remaining three were caught at other gates. The incident left gate 69 completely damaged, while gate 64 was partially damaged.
Chief Minister Naidu who visited the scene, said he suspected a conspiracy behind the incident. He felt that the counterweights were deliberately damaged to release water and create havoc in human habitations downstream.
Speaking to reporters, Naidu said he suspected the role of a person responsible for the murder of his paternal uncle behind the incident. “I am forced to suspect how the anchored boats were swept away and hit the Prakasam Barrage. I am ordering an investigation into the incident.”
The chief minister’s oblique reference was apparently to the 15 March 2019 murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy, Jagan’s paternal uncle, and a member of the 14th Lok Sabha.
Naidu’s outburst followed Jagan holding the chief minister responsible for the Vijayawada floods. After visiting the flood-affected areas, the former chief minister said Naidu ordered the opening of all the 11 locks of the Velagaleru regulator, which caused the floods.
గౌరవ ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ నారా చంద్రబాబునాయుడు ప్రకాశం బ్యారేజ్ వద్ద వరద ఉధృతిని పరిశీలించారు. వరద నీటికి కొట్టుకువచ్చిన పడవలు ఢీ కొట్టడంతో బ్యారేజ్ గేట్లకు ఏర్పడిన నష్టాన్ని పరిశీలించి తక్షణ మరమ్మతులకు ఆదేశించారు.#APGovtWithFloodVictims#2024APFloodsRelief#AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/2RqW15YmfK
— CMO Andhra Pradesh (@AndhraPradeshCM) September 2, 2024
Jagan further said that if the regulator remained closed, the water would have flowed into the Krishna River. It would have flooded Naidu’s house on the riverbank. He also accused the chief minister of ignoring the IMD’s heavy rains and possible flood warnings.
A lack of foresight in creating flood cushions along the course of the Budameru rivulet led to the flooding of Vijayawada, Jagan said. He said that when Krishna had similar floods in the past, Vijayawada was not affected but it happened now because of the opening of the locks of the Velagaleru regulator.
As the counterweights of the two gates got damaged the government requisitioned the services of a barrage expert and advisor to the government on irrigation Kannaiah Naidu. He said the counterweight of only one gate was damaged, and there was no threat to the barrage.
The damaged counterweight could be replaced in about a week, the expert said. He said that replacement could be done only when the inflows weakened to five lakh cusecs.
Kannaiah Naidu played a crucial role in fixing the damaged crest gate of the Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka recently.
Meanwhile, Vijayawada received a respite from heavy rainfall on Tuesday, 3 September. The rainfall in the 24 hours preceding 8 am on Tuesday was 2.8 mm against the normal of 3.9 mm.
At least 17 people were killed in rain-related incidents and two persons were still missing in the NTR district. Official figures said that crops in 1.8 lakh hectares were damaged, affecting two lakh farmers.
With the floodwaters receding and inflow into the Krishna slowing down, the state administration started focusing on rolling out relief measures. Enough men and materials were made available to help the citizens to tide over the calamity.
Chief Minister Naidu, who has been personally supervising flood-relief operations at various parts of the city, suspended one official at Jakkampudi in Vijayawada rural for alleged dereliction of duty. Show-cause notices were issued to a few other officials as well.
“The entire machinery has become inert under Jagan Mohan Reddy’s five-year rule. I am trying to move them. Some police officers were not taking an active interest in flood relief work,” Naidu said and warned officials that they would take severe action if they did not change their style of functioning.
Meanwhile, the Pulichintala Project received an inflow of 4,84,136 cusecs till noon on Tuesday. The outflow was 4,19,380 cusecs. The inflow into the Prakasam Barrage came down to 8,42,208 cusecs and the outflow was 8,42,208 cusecs at noon.
As many as 44,041 people were accommodated in 190 relief camps and 197 medical camps were opened. The state deployed 48 SDRF and NDRF teams for search and rescue operations.
Five helicopters — two from the Navy and three from the Air Force — have been airdropping food and airlifting people stranded in inundated areas. As many as 228 boats (174 motorised and 54 non-motorised) were involved in the rescue operation.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
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