Encroachments to ill planning: How peaceful Budameru turned ferocious to drown Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Budameru, a seasonal creek that carries flood water originating from several streams mainly from Khammam in Telangana and Mylavaram hills, has hit Vijayawada inundating almost all of the city.

Budameru discharges the flood waters into Kolleru Lake, which has been blocked due to indiscriminate encroachments.

Surpassing the impact of the Krishna River on the city, a major commercial and transportation hub of coastal Andhra Pradesh, Budameru entered Vijayawada at Singh Nagar, its entry point on the intervening night of August 31 and September 1, 2024.

With water levels at Prakasam barrage recording unprecedented inflows of 11.43 lakh cusecs, compared to its discharge capacity of 11.90 lakh cusecs, Budameru which flows at a lower level could not discharge its flood water into the river resulting in a reflux effect.

Flood water from seasonal streams including Pulivagu, Bhim Vagu, Loyavagu in Reddigudem, Mylavaram, G Kondur, and streams from Vissannapet and Tiruvuru joined the Budameru compounding the problem. Then the water flooded Gollapudi, Bhavani Puram, Nandamuri Nagar, Nunna, Vidyadhara Puram, Milk Project, one town, Jakkampudi, Kandrika, Payakapuram, and Ajit Singh Nagar areas in Vijayawada.

These areas are thickly populated settlements. In just one night the creek discharged approximately 70,000 cusecs, well above the maximum of 11,000 cusecs forcing the irrigation authorities to open the gates of the Velagaleru regulator built to divert Budameru water when flood reaches alarming levels.

With flood water reaching the first-floor level of the houses of the lower middle-class and middle-class families, people rushed to safety by abandoning their belongings and valuables for the safety of higher grounds.

History of floods

After 20 years, the city of Vijayawada has submerged again proving that nature takes its revenge if the streams are encroached upon. ‘Operation Kolleru’, which was started 20 years ago, has come to a standstill and today the bustling city is paying the price.

The encroachment of Budameru has become a curse for Vijayawada. On September 29, 1964, over ten people were washed away in flood water in Ajith Singh Nagar and Satyanarayana Puram when Budameru flooded Vijayawada. The flood was so fierce that the Railway lines were damaged between Dornakal, Vijayawada Vatluru, and Eluru. Again the city was battered by heavy rains in September 2005 submerging three-quarters of Vijayawada. The elections to the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) were postponed due to floods. Budameru flooded Vijayawada due to heavy rainfall in Khammam district in the upper reaches.

The Budameru, which originates in Khammam district, flows with a maximum flow of 11,000 cusecs in the normal season every year. In 2005, it reached 70,000 cusecs. The Velagaleru regulator was also built in the 70s to control the flow of the Budameru. CPI-affiliated farmers' union leader Kolli Nageswara Rao launched a massive awareness campaign explaining the reasons for the floods in 2005.

The then Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy came to Vijayawada fearing that Krishna district would be submerged forever if a permanent solution was not found to the issue. Irrigation officials explained the flood situation in Vijayawada to the Chief Minister. It was thought that the only way to control the flow of the river was to divert it away from the city.

Polavaram Canal

As part of the Polavaram project, the water of the Godavari River has been linked to the Krishna River.

YSR instructed the officials to make changes to the alignment of the Polavaram project’s right canal to find a permanent solution to the drinking water problem in Vijayawada. YSR has assured the people of Vijayawada that steps will be taken to ensure that the water flow directly reaches Kolleru by repairing the curves of the Budameru and preventing the flow of water from flowing back into Budameru. As part of the construction of the Polavaram right canal, the downstream of Budameru has been diverted into the right canal by 2007-08. The water from Budameru was diverted to Krishna River via Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) without digging a new canal. However, there was a technical problem here.

The Polavaram right canal is designed to have a maximum flow of 37,500 cusecs and not 70,000 cusecs similar to the flood that inundated Vijayawada this time. The canal that flows over the VTPS does not have that much capacity. Although there are proposals to increase its capacity to match the flood flow, no such expansion works could be allowed inside the thermal power station. In addition, there was criticism that the structures at the mouth of the Krishna River could prevent flood flow.

Encroachments

With the Budameru being inactive since 2005 and the water channeled through the VTPS canal into the river, realtors and land sharks started encroaching upon the natural course of the creek. With the region between Vijayawada and Guntur selected for the development of the State capital Amaravati, heavy demand for houses resulted in the illegal construction of apartments and houses narrowing the width of the Budameru. Former Engineer In-Chief (Irrigation), Andhra Pradesh D Rama Krishna observed that while the annual average rainfall of the entire Krishna district is 98 cm, the Budameru catchment area received 33 cm of rain rainfall in just 36 hours resulting in heavy floods.

“The water was supposed to move to Keesara in its natural course via Vijayawada. But encroachments have shrunk the width of the creek resulting in the stocking of water in low-laying areas,” he told Newsmeter.

Velagaleru Regulator

The 11-gate Velagaleru Regulator was built to regulate the flood emanating from the Budameru Creek. The water from this regulator travels via Gudivada to reach Vijayawada. The water released from this regulator on September 1, 2024, reached the Vijayawada town. However, the canal that was supposed to carry the flood water shrunk due to encroachments and weakened bunds due to illegal sand mining. The engineers lifted gates manually in the absence of power when the flood started overflowing from the top of the gates. Even though the gates of the regulator were lifted to release pressure on the overflowing main Budameru stream, the shrunk canal that was supposed to carry the water failed to do its job adding to the woes of Vijayawada. Irrigation dept blames it on flash floods Later, the Irrigation Department clarified that a sudden flood (flash flood) caused the water to flow into Vijayawada City after entering the Budameru Diversion Canal (BDC).

They said that the was no coordination between the departments and prior information had also been given to the people. Irrigation officials had no clue about the quantum of the flood water entering the creek except at Velagaleru as there are no flood forecasting and measuring instruments anywhere in the upper reaches of the creek. The average annual rainfall in the upper reaches of the creek is only 15 inches and floods are recorded in over 15 years. Two streams originate from the Jammulavolu Durgam hill range in A. Konduru mandal of NTR district and Annaraopet hill range in Reddigudem mandal join together to form the Budameru stream south of Nandigama.

The catchment area is spread over Konduru, Reddigudem, Mylavaram, G. Konduru, and Vissannapet mandals. Budameru received rainwater through streams like Kothi Wagu, and Puli Wagu before reaching at Velagaleru regulator bringing record-level flood waters into the city. Only a general warning of heavy rain has been received from the Meteorological Center around August 30, 2024. But the Budameru catchment area received 25 cm of rainfall from the night of August 30 to 8.30 am on August 31. With this, the Engineer-in-Chief (ENC) gave preliminary information to the government on the upcoming flood and the irrigation officials said that they alerted the revenue department about the impending disaster. Special Chief Secretary of the Irrigation Department on August 31 at 2.35 pm discussed the flood situation with the District Collector.

The Collector was informed that the Velagaleru regulatory locks would be opened at 3 pm. However, by that time, the flood water had already reached the city. Around 3.30 p.m. Gangaiah, the Superintending Engineer (SE) met the Collector and informed the Vijayawada Corporation officials about the flood and requested the authorities to take appropriate action. The information is also relayed to Minister Nirmala Ramanaidu, Mylavaram, and Vijayawada Central MLAs Vasantha Krishna Prasad and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao.

On the night of the 31st, a special flood control room was set up in the office of the Water Resources Department in coordination with other departments. No flood forecasting system There is no flood forecasting system in the upper reaches of the Budameru stream, meaning the engineers could only react after the floods come knocking at their doors. There are no gauging points to estimate the flood water, one can only estimate the flow once it reaches the regulator.

The officials denied any delay in informing the civic authorities about the flood. They explained that the streams like Budameru often lead to flash floods due to torrential rains. It was also raining that day. There is another reason for this aggravation. The Krishna River was already receiving a record inflow of 11.43 lakh cusecs.

The water level in the dam rose to 24 feet in a very short time. As a result, the water from the canal could not flow into the Prakasam barrage. On the left bank of the canal, there were three large breaches through which floodwater entered the low-lying areas of Vijayawada. By September 1, the situation got out of hand and there was nothing that the engineers could do to divert the water.

The Irrigation officials pointed out that no funds were given to strengthen the bunds and to build a retaining wall. On their part, they submitted a roadmap to the government to deal with such disasters in the future. Breaches plugged on a war footing Ministers Nimmala Rama Naidu and Nara Lokesh along with Indian Army personnel, including the engineering and medical teams from the 54 Infantry Division, plugged the three breaches through which water gushed into nearby fields and the city. The Army personnel used 16,000 sandbags, Hesco bastions, and locally fabricated metal Gideon bags. Initially, the employees of the Irrigation department created a pathway on the narrow and weakened embankment to allow heavy JCBs to dump the gravel to plug the breaches. Rama Naidu who stayed at the site to oversee the works said that simultaneous efforts will be made to increase the height of the bund to prevent further breaches at Budameru.

Meanwhile, the State government has submitted the flood loss report to the Central government and sought Rs 6,880 crore as financial assistance.

Politics of floods

The ruling TDP Government also blamed the YSRCP for neglecting the Budameru problem for five years. The government has said that the YSRCP Government canceled the work orders given to companies that were supposed to strengthen the bunds of Budameru that could have averted the disaster. The Chandrababu Naidu Government also blamed the YSRCP leaders of Vijayawada and surrounding Constituencies for the illegal encroachments and sand mining in the command area of Budameru. The former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy blamed the Government for the lifting of the gates of the Velagaleru Regulator without warning the people.

He alleged that the decision to lift the gates was taken to save the CM’s residence on the other side of the Krishna River located in the Guntur district. While his comments raked up a political storm, the issue of saving the city from the seasonal creek still needs to be addressed. Way forward “The breaches are plugged successfully. We are using synthetic sheets to seal the leakages. Today we will complete that work,” former Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, overseeing the works told Newsmeter on Tuesday.

Umamaheswara Rao who was instrumental in planning the Budameru capacity enhancement plan to help withstand a 37,000 cusecs flood explained that the YSRCP Government has canceled the plan after coming to power even after the TDP Government had spent Rs 150 crore out of the Rs 450 crore earmarked for the execution of the plans.

He said that the bunds need to be strengthened to prepare the Budameru vagu to carry water from the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme that lifts Godavari water and discharges the same at Krishna, near Ibrahimpatnam via Budameru.

Engineers have suggested that demolition of encroachments with the help of an authority similar to that of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (Hydra) being implemented in Telangana could help widen the stream and also help in the free flow of flood water through the city. Pawan Kalyan, the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Panchayat Raj suggested an agency to help the residents of the frequently inundated areas in case of demolition of illegal strictures