The extensive floods that afflicted the city of Vijayawada, which were primarily triggered by the leaps of the Budameru rivulet, had opened up many avenues for investigation and criticism in terms of the apathy of the government and the inactions of successive governments in coming up with a permanent solution. One of the most striking features is that even after a recurrent habit of the rivulet submerging vast agricultural lands and residential areas along its path over the years, the State government does not have proper records of how much district has been encroached onto by the drains.
The socialist and the congress party launched a struggle during the year 1956, to expose the problems of the people in times of overflow of Budameru. Since then political parties have gone into the streets and into the jungles to campaign and occupy the opposition, but only to forget about the issue when they are in Government. Except for the building of a head regulator at Velagaleru, G. konduru mandal in 1970 whither most official commissions of highly skilled professionals recommendations such as Mitra committee in1966 were ignored.
For ages Water Resources Department officials would not provide any relief with respect to the constructions taking place on Budameru drain and its floodplaines. Other normal departments like revenue and local administration have also remained ineffective which provides the space for such unlawful structures. These residential areas have sprung up with the complacency of these government departments.
As for the legal constraints, such civilians as find themselves in or near Budameru floodplain registration land parcels concerning its territoriality such as Ramakrishnapuram, Ajith Singh Nagar, Rajarajeswaripeta and Ayodhya Nagar would make use of survey numbers concerning lands outside the floodplain instead of the floodplain. Due to flood levels not climbing above 15000cusec in the last two decades lately encroachments and rapid urbanization within these flood plain areas have been occurring.
These are not clear indicators of the relevance of the variables to the problem being explored. These outcomes were due to the fact that there was no measure of control over the environment that has been regained by the Budameru drain after a slowing for the past some decades. Beginning with this year for the first time since 2005, the waters of Budameru went some twenty feet uphill and brought to the open streets and water all the structures, residential and industrial ones, standing in its plains. The loss due to encroached areas submerged by the flooding turned out to be in the thousands of crores of rupees. It was ineffective in the resolution of the issues, which arose from the floods. The first week of the month of September ushered an unprecedented inflow of more than eleven lakh cusecs dry into the Krishna river. The standing wall of the Polavaram Right Canal had a height graded on the lower side compared to the water level of the Krishnariver thereby disabled the discharge of the Budameru drains leading to a rebound effect whereby more than fifty thousand cusecs of water was returned to the city at a high velocity.
The detour was constructed to make it easier for the Budameru flood waters to flow into the Polavaram Right Cannal which has a design of 37,500 cusecs and discharges water into the Krishna River. In this approach, the water of Budameru was discharged into the Krishna River through Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) without building any new diversion canal. However, the Polavaram Right Canal has been so designed that the maximum flow is 37500 cusecs, which is quite inadequate to this occasion hundred thousand cusecs flood water that submerged Vijayawada. As a result, there has been none concrete progress made regarding the present situation for the past twenty years in order to address the issue of the cooling canal with respect to its enlarging.
Though total average rainfall for the whole Krishna district is about 98 cm, within a short period of 36 hours this year, Budameru catchment area recorded an outrageous 33 cm of rainfall which caused severe flooding. The Budameru catchment does experience such problem but only when the climatic conditions indications more rainfall than normal during 24 or 48 hours. This leads to the reservoir in Velagaleru village filling up to the saturation point, whereby irrigation department has to let out water leading to floods in Vijayawada city. Moreover, there is also significant controversy relating to the drainage bathymetry and the drain width which remains the issue. Heavy rainfall in 1989, 1990, 1991, 2005 and 2009 caused inundation of significant floods. The discharges from Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC) and Budameru course have been varying with respect to time such as 3722cusecs in the year 1971 and 39595 cusecs in the year 1964 with peak discharge of 26080 cusecs in 1969, 34996 cusecs in 1986 and 32273 cusecs in 1996.
The peak flood discharge for the Budameru drain is 11, 000 cusecs. A head regulator was constructed at Velagaleru in G. Konduru mandal in the year 1970 to harness this tremendous outflow so that the Water Resources Department (WRD) could manage the floodwaters.Further, in order to control flood in the New Rajarajeswaripet Nandamuri Nagar, Nunna, Payakapuram, Singh Nagar and Devi Nagar residential areas of Vijayawada, Bajamaru Diversion Channel (BDC) was built. Though the major aim of BDC is to carry away the surplus waters from Budameru and discharge it in the Krishna at Pavitra Sangam near Ibrahimpatam. Also, the Waiyapada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) releases spent effluents into the river via the BDC. A few years later the Budameru was joined with Polavaram Right Canal handing over the integration of Polavaram project with Krishna. However, the Polavaram canal is to be designed in such a way that it can take in 37500 cusecs WIL, but for now, it can only hold in 8500 cusecs. For the period of eight years sicce, this water channel has been supplying Krishna river water with a river from the Pattiseema project.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Nimmala Ramanaidu Water Resources Minister said that measures would be taken by the State government in incidences of flooding, and an action plan would be made to ensure that such concerns exist no more. Presently the capacity of BDC stands at 15000 cusecs and it is proposed to enhance it to 35000 cumecs. The government will further seek the availability of the Polavaram canal, which receives water from the Pattiseema project. Besides, the management of the channel of the Budameru from Enikepadu to Kolleru Lake will also be managed. WRD officials have been asked to prepare a report on the illegal constructions made on the irrigation properties and he explained that ‘Operation Budameru’ will be implemented in due course.
An issue like Budameru flooding continues to extent today, however, there is still no information relating to encroachments by the various crews within the area as reported by WRD officials. Superintending Engineer P. Gangaiah admitted, “We don’t have any information on the encroachments. We are yet to conduct a study.”
The above situation is true and explain because the issues disused above were recognized by the VMC in the city development plan (CDP) 2011. Any Else Property Problem: This naming in the CDP clearlymentioned that the unhampered obstruction of the Budameru drainage system by development works and encroachments has created loss of property, health and even lives in some cases. The CDP points out such irresponsible actions as trespass and construction that exceeds permitted zones in the Budameru flood area. Out of the 59 divisions that the city has, 26 are flood prone, 8 flood prone divisions are krishna flood divisions and 18 are bulmeru flood divisions.
It needs no emphasis that no responsible and publicity oriented actions aimed at destroying the encroachments in turn have been taken by the WRD nor the VMC.
Year 2005 saw the Budameru list flood waters up to about 70000 cusecs. Political parties during the time of flood victim brought people out on the streets in Vijayawada, and CPI political farmer unions leader Kolli Nageswara Rao undertook massive awareness program regarding the reasons of flood. Interval within that time was Sundar a chief minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was invoking to do away the rivulet system as the sole option to lessen the flooding menace in the city. YSR as he was known to have said the engineers to change up the positioning of the upper channel of the Polavaram structure and we are able to sort the flood problem out, and, Vijawada’s water worries will be made permanent. As a result, since the diversion of the Budameru River downstream was made in the right canal in 2007 flooding the Polavaram project bridge cupboard to adorn. Political parties in power have always allowed encroachment and are registering land primarily using neighbouring land parcel survey numbers for real estates.
Approximately 20 years ago, this part of the city had very few inhabitants, however, it has now become a metropolitical zone with markets and housing estates a good number of which have come up on floodplains. For a way out a flood spill, the reconceptualisation of the canal and extension of its size was considered inevitable. Many heats were gathered in these years, but the attempts to bring the situation under full control forever has lived in the political games more than in the giving efforts and so became a chronic disaster for the mother city.
Amplification scheme proposals worth ₹500 crore for the modernization of Budameru canal would however stop dead in the middle. The canal passes through localities like Bhavanipurm, Vidyadharapuram, Ayodhya Nagar, Madhura Nagar, Kanaka Durga Kulony parallel to elurucanal. Because of an increasing demand for house plots, a north eastern side of the drain was grabbed illegally.
These transgressions were comprehensively ignored by the political parties in their dirtier than usual work of mudslinging political campaigns. The present ruling National Democratic Alliance, NDA government claims that the YSR Congress Party YSRCP regime has taken 5 years neglecting the Budameru. They assert that the YSRCP backtracked on a work order to strengthen the bunds of Budameru and that contributed to the disaster. Former YSR chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also attacked the government now for allowing the Velagaleru Regulator gates to be opened without warning the public.
The flood affected people, on the other hand, undertake the burden of cleaning their houses and colonies in a very quiet manner, knowing that their problems would not be solved in the foreseeable future.
