Crops washed away as SS tank breaches in Allagadda

Kurnool: Standing crops over five acres under the Allagadda constituency were submerged after a breach occurred to a summer storage tank at Sri Rangapuram village in Rudravaram mandal on Saturday night.

According to sources, the breach took place after 11 pm on Saturday flooded low-lying areas in the village. On learning about the incident, Allagadda MLA Gangula Bijendra Reddy visited the village on Sunday and enquired about the crop loss. Speaking to media, the MLA said the tank was built in between 2004-09 and added there was no loss of life in the incident.

"About five acres of farmland was submerged, but there was no crop loss," he added. "We have taken up restoration of bund and have currently closed it with sand bags and stones," the MLA said. Responding to permanent solution, he said that repairs would be executed under the water grid project taken up by the government.

"If it is not completed by the government by summer, we will take necessary steps to repair the SS tank, to make sure that everyone has sufficient drinking water," he added.

With the breach, a villager said that huge quantum of water with high speed gushed towards the village. In no time, most of the village was flooded with water and almost all the villagers woke up with the news spreading like wildfire and panicked with the unexpected incident, he said. "We tried our level best to pump out the water but could not succeed. After some time, the water flow declined and by Sunday morning, the water has drained, stated Narsi Reddy, a villager.

Narsi Reddy said there was not much water in the tank due to lack of rains for the past few years. But, as the region witnessed copious rains this year, he said the SS tank was brimming with water, the bund could not handle the quantum of water with which it developed breach.