2.5-km-long upper coffer dam height raised by 3 ft
The works at Polavaram dam began on July 15 and concluded on July 17
Polavaram (Eluru District): Following the State government's decision to increase the height of Polavaram upper coffer dam by 1 meter in view of heavy floods in Godavari, works for increasing the height of 2.5 kms upper coffer dam was started on July 15 and completed by July 17. The upper cofferdam was built to withstand 28 lakh cusecs of flood water. If inflow is more than the capacity, water will flow over the upper cofferdam. With expecting more floods, the government decided to increase the height of upper coffer dam by one meter.
MEIL Chief General Manager M Muddukrishna said that in just 48 hours, the company has completed the work and increased the height to 44 metres. Increasing the height of the upper coffer dam was completed with total 12,000 cubic meters of rock filling.
It may be recalled that in 1986 Godavari experienced its worst floods. The flood reached 75.66 ft at Bhadrachalam. At the same time, 36 lakh cusecs of water was released from Dowleswaram Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage. Based on current flows at Bhadrachalam, the situation is considered to be the second biggest flood. The officials estimated that Polavaram may receive a flood of 26 lakh cusecs to 30 lakh cusecs.
On Friday, Chief Minister YS Jagan asked the officials of the Water Resources Department for details on the situation in Polavaram and the Upper Cofferdam. The Chief Minister took a decision on the proposal to increase the height of the Upper Cofferdam which was implemented on a war-footing.