Army takes up Budameru plugging on war-footing

Vijayawada: The state government, which has taken up the massive works to plug huge breaches of the Budameru rivulet in Vijayawada is likely to complete the works by Saturday afternoon, according to Minister for Irrigation Nimmala Ramanaidu.

Following the request of the state government, the 6th battalion of the army consisting of 120 officers has reached Vijayawada to supervise the government’s efforts to close the breaches. As the water level in Budameru is still high, the army decided to construct a frame with iron rods fill it with stones, and form a gravel road to take up breach repair works.

There are a total of seven breaches. Former irrigation minister Devineni Uma, who along with Ramanaidu is supervising the works at the site of breaches, said that while breaches were being plugged at other places, the water level in Budameru had risen by two feet on Friday leading to submersion of 6 km of the road due to heavy inflows from upstream and water entered in about 12 villages in Nandivada.

On the other hand, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took up an aerial survey of the breaches on Budameru and saw the areas that have been inundated. The seriousness of the government’s efforts can be gauged from the fact that the Minister for Water Resources Nimmala Ramanaidu had stayed put at the works site for the past three days to complete the works at breakneck speed.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Daggubati Purandhareswari, who inspected the works, said that both the state and Central government were coordinating with each other to come to the rescue of flood-affected people. She appreciated the way the minister, officials, and the entire administration were working.

She said as per the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inspected the flood-affected areas and interacted with farmers near Kesarapalli. She stressed the need for both short-term and long-term assistance for flood victims.

Purandhareswari said that the previous YSRCP government neglected the Budameru works though on record the Centre had sanctioned funds. She advised the YSRCP Congress party leaders not to politicise the issue at an hour of crisis and indulge in false propaganda.

Mylavaram MLA Vasanta Krishnaprasad condemned the false campaign of YSRCP leaders on the release of water from the Velagaleru regulator. He said former CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said some gates were lifted. There are only canal regulatory gates which had to be partially lifted due to heavy inflow to prevent greater damage to Vijayawada.

He said he worked with Jagan for five years and was now working with Naidu. When Mylavaram and a few other areas were affected due to floods in the past, he organised some food packets but the bills of those contractors were not cleared to date. Similarly, the compensation announced for the kin of the dead also did not reach many. But in this case, the alliance government had been making immediate payments to those who supplied food and also handing over an ex gratia amount. “The speed with which this government reacted is something that needs to be admired and that he was not saying to please anyone,” he said. Instead of making wild allegations and spreading false news, YSRCP should come forward to help the flood victims, he said.