Tungabhadra dam gate washed away; CM Naidu alerts low-lying areas in Kurnool

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the officials concerned to alert people in the low-lying areas of the erstwhile Kurnool district in the wake of Tungabhadra dam gate washing away in Karnataka.

Instructions were given to the district collectors to alert the people in the low-lying areas of Kowthalam, Kosgi, Mantralayam and Nandavaram.

Naidu spoke to minister for irrigation N Ramanaidu and principal secretary (Irrigation) P Sai Prasad over the incident. He advised Sai Prasad to send a team of design experts near the dam gate and stop the water wastage from the dam through the stop-lock arrangement method.

Naidu also asked minister for finance Payyavula Keshav to discuss the situation with the Tungabhadra dam authorities. Ramanaidu said that a team of engineers with a central design commissioner went to the dam.

The Tungabhadra dam, which can currently hold 105 tmc of water, was releasing about one lakh cusecs of water at a time. It also has a gross storage capacity of 105 tmc. It was necessary to release about 60 tmc of water to replace the gate right away, the minister said.

Tungabhadra dam gate 19 washed away due to floodwaters on Saturday

In light of the occurrence, officials of the Srisailam project and the Nagarjuna Sagar dam have also been placed on alert, and they are keeping an eye on the discharges from Tungabhadra, Ramanaidu said.

The AP State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) on Sunday cautioned people living along the banks of the Krishna River to keep vigil, following the washing away of a Tungabhadra dam gate in Karnataka.

Due to the snapping of a chain link, APSDMA managing director R Kurmanadh said gate number 19 got washed away due to the intensity of floodwaters.

According to reports, the mishap occurred on Saturday night in Hospet.

“Nearly 35,000 cusecs of floodwaters flowed and a total of 48,000 cusecs will be discharged downstream. People in Kurnool district’s Kosiri, Mantralayam, Nandavaram and Kouthalam should exercise caution,” he said in a press release.

Further, the managing director advised Krishna River riparian inhabitants to avoid crossing canals and streams.