Polavaram authorities prepare for sharp rise in Sabari River inflow

Authorities in Polavaram district are preparing relief operations after inflow into the Sabari River at Chintoor was forecast to reach 1m cusecs by Saturday evening. The inflow was nearly 2.8 lakh cusecs on Friday. Officials attributed the rise to heavy rain in the catchment areas of Chhattisgarh and Odisha, which has increased flows in the Sabari and Sileru rivers.

Polavaram District Collector K. Dinesh Kumar said residents of low-lying areas, including communities in submergence zones of the Polavaram irrigation project, had been alerted. Officials were identifying areas for possible relief operations using the submergence recorded during the 2022 Godavari floods as a reference.

Five tourism boats and 12 mechanised boats were kept ready at Kunavaram, the Collector said. Authorities also banned tourism activities, suspended boating on the Godavari River and restricted entry to tourism spots and waterfalls because of the continuing rain. Separately, displaced families from Koyaguru village staged a protest in the waters of the Sabari on Friday.

They were seeking implementation of the resettlement and rehabilitation package linked to the Polavaram irrigation project. The protest lasted more than four hours and ended after Integrated Tribal Development Agency Project Officer Subham Nokwal visited the village and promised talks on the package the following Monday. In East Godavari district, Tourism and Culture Minister Kandula Durgesh inspected paddy fields submerged by the Yerra Kaluva river in the Nidadavolu Assembly constituency.

He said 926 acres had been submerged after continuous rain over two days and that all affected fields would be enumerated.