Removal of boats begins at Prakasam barrage

Vijayawada: Water resources department on Tuesday began efforts to remove three boats from the Prakasam barrage floodwaters. The boats crashed into the gates of the barrage recently causing damage to counterweights meant to lift the gates, which were later repaired successfully. Engineering officials of the water resources department are using two heavy cranes to remove the heavy boats. Officials said each crane can lift a load of up to 50 tonne.

Three boats rammed into the barrage at Gates 67, 69 and 70 on September 1 when all 70 gates were lifted to release the floodwater downstream from the barrage. One of the boats went down between the gates while efforts were on to identify the location of another boat.

According to officials, the boats damaged the counterweight of Gate 69 of the barrage. However, the main structures of the gates were not affected.

The boat removing works began a day after police arrested two persons including the owner of three boats on suspicion of sabotage.

Police arrested Ushadri, the owner of the three boats and YSRCP leader Komati Rammohan. Both were produced before a court, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

Water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the boats’ incident. He said the investigations were on due to suspicion that boats were deliberately left in the river to damage the barrage. The minister said Ushadri is a follower of Rammohan, who is a relative of YSRCP MLC Talasila Raghuram. He claimed that YSRCP leader Nandigam Suresh and others formed a syndicate for dredging in Krishna river for sand.

The boats, each weighing 40-50 tonne, were tied to each other merely with a plastic rope and it gives scope suspicions that there may be some plot to damage Prakasam barrage. The minister stated that boats were neither anchored, nor did the owners take any precautionary measures to secure them tightly. Meanwhile, the officials said on Tuesday that Prakasam barrage was receiving inflows of 2.09 lakh cusecs, which is very less compared to last week inflows.