Nellore, November 23: The old anicut on the Penna in the city was washed away in the flood waters around midnight on Saturday night. Almost half of the 125- year-old structure was damaged.
It was the main source of drinking water to Nellore city. An ayacut of about one lakh acres is being irrigated under it in Surveypally, Kovuru, Nellore and Nellore Rural constituencies.
Irrigation superintending engineer Lakshmipathy said the anicut, built in 1885, couldn’t withstand the force of flood water – the Penna river received 1.35 lakh cusecs of flood water last night.
AKR Constructions, a Hyderabad-based private firm, took up construction of an anicut and a bridge upstream of the old anicut with an estimated budget of Rs 147 crore on April 10, 2008.
After completing works worth Rs 21 crore, it stopped construction abruptly and did not respond despite the irrigation department issuing several notices. As per the agreement with the contractor, the anicut should have been completed by October 9, 2010.
Some allege that a temporary earthen bund (kara katta) built by AKR Constructions at the new anicut by digging out earth at the old anicut could have weakened its foundation.
According to Lakshmipathi, the contractor, A Krishna Reddy, came to Nellore three days ago and gave an assurance to resume work.
The Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) had decided to terminate the contract and initiate action against the contractor but the move was dropped following the advice of municipal administration minister Ramnarayana Reddy that it might be difficult to find a new contractor and that the grant could lapse in the meantime.
However, it is learnt that the contractor has been let off as he happens to be a relative of the minister.
Officials say it’s not possible to restore anicut till the floods recede. At present the Penna is receiving inflows of 50,000 cusecs.
Lakshmipathy said the department would build a temporary ‘ring bund’ to ensure water supply to Nellore and for irrigation needs.
Collector K Ramgopal, Ramnarayana Reddy and Lakshmipathy inspected the anicut this afternoon.
The minister briefed chief minister K Rosaiah about the restoration work to be taken up. Minister for major irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah along with a technical committee will visit the anicut on Monday to examine the possibility of restoring the anicut.
Meanwhile, TDP district president Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said the dam collapse reflected the government’s inefficiency.
“The new anicut was taken up as part of Jalayagnam. The problem wouldn’t have arisen had the contractor completed works in time. Now rabi farmers will be hit badly. We will organise protests to expose the government’s failure,” he said.
–Agencies