**Kothagudem:**
Thousands of farmers depend on the Peddavagu reservoir for watering their crops. Unfortunately, their hopes were shattered on Friday when a huge breach occurred in the Peddavagu medium irrigation project in Gummadavalli village, Aswaraopet mandal.
On Friday, officials including the Superintendent of Police B Rohith Raju and Kothagudem district Collector Jithesh V Patil visited the site to check the damage. They estimated that fixing the breach would cost around Rs 20 crore.
The problem began on Thursday night when one of the three project crest gates failed to close, causing a breach in the project’s bund. The reservoir was filled with floodwaters from areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Heavy inflows were recorded after multiple tanks in Buttaigudem, AP, burst. Two gates released 35,000 cusecs of water, but the inflow exceeded 70,000 cusecs. This led to a 250-meter-long breach by the project spillway after floodwaters washed over the reservoir’s earth bund.
The flooding affected several areas including Kammarigudem, Ontibanda, Koyamadaram, Kothapuchirala, Pathapuchirala, Allurinagar, Sondigollagudem, Vasanthavada, Gullavai, and Velerupadu in Eluru district of AP. In Kothagudem district, the affected areas were Gummadavalli, Koyarangapuram, Kothur, and Ramanakkapet.
In these villages, water levels reached knee height and around 2000 families had to be moved to safer places. The project, completed in 1981, irrigates nearly 16,000 acres – 2,360 in Telangana and 13,640 in Andhra Pradesh. There was a similar incident in 1989 due to poor maintenance. Officials had previously suggested spending Rs 100 crore to restore the infrastructure.
Since both Telangana and AP share the reservoir waters, they are supposed to share maintenance costs in a ratio of 15:85. However, AP has not yet paid its share. The Godavari River Management Board has informed the AP government about the project’s safety and maintenance needs.
