Nellore: Once again Somasila crest gates fail to open

Nellore: Fears gripped in Kaluvoya and other areas as the crest gates of Somasila Reservoir that release waters to Kandaleru Canal are not functioning properly even though technicians from Vizag failed to rectify them.

The problem emerged for the second time during the flood season. Normally, excess waters of Somasila reservoir release either to Kandaleru Reservoir or to the delta system for cultivation purposes.

The district had received huge water inflows during the second week of September and the officials planned to release from Somasila reservoir for managing the water level. But the crest gates failed to function at that time when the water level was crossing 76-77 tmc feet of water against the FRL of 78 tmc feet as the water body was receiving around 1 lakh cusecs of water from upland Rayalaseema region due to heavy rains.

Officials have finally heaved a sigh of relief as the crest gates opened after some effort and a huge volume of water was released from the reservoir into Penna River during the flood. Now, there are no huge inflows from the upper catchment areas of Rayalaseema and the Kandaleru Reservoir system filled to its brim up to 60 tmc feet of water for the first time after its construction.

Kandaleru is dependent on Somasila reservoir system and the excess waters are normally released to the reservoir through the Somasila Kandaleru Flood Flow (SKFF) canal and the same problem reoccurred on Sunday where the technicians failed to open the 4th and 5th crest gates. SKFF canal is being supplied 3,000-3,500 cusecs of water.

In fact, villagers of Peramkonda and others in Rapur area are facing flood threat due to 60 tmc feet of water level in the Kandaleru reservoir and the district administration advised the irrigation officials to stop water storage in Kandaleru confining to 60 tmc feet only as per directions of Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar Yadav.

But the gates are not supporting them, so they immediately called technicians along with equipment from Vizag and the efforts failed to open the gates. So, they started diverting water to the Kaluvoya tank which has already been filled to its brim and the excess waters are reaching the nearby villages and agricultural lands.

Now, officials are inviting experts from Chennai and other places for rectifying the gates. Irrigation officials are tight-lipped on the issue due to criticism by the opposition leaders as a similar problem has surfaced for the second time.