176 tanks breached in Mahabubnagar

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 4. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, today lambasted officials of the Minor Irrigation Department for not immediately attending to repair of the large number of tanks in Mahabubnagar district which breached on June 29 and 30 following torrential rains.

At a video conference here on Tuesday, he threatened to initiate action against the Chief Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Mr. A. Satyanarayana Murthy, for his failure to inspect the damaged tanks and instead deputing the Superintending Engineer when Mahabubnagar was hardly two hours' drive from here.

Mr. Naidu was all the more furious when the CE told him that he learnt about the damage to the tanks only on July 3. ``It is clearly a case of lethargy and inefficiency,'' he observed.

Expressing dismay that 151 panchayat raj and 25 minor irrigation tanks had breached, Mr. Naidu asked the CE what work was more important than inspection of these tanks. ``The Minor Irrigation Department has been sleeping for all these years'', he said.

To add to the discomfiture of the officials present, the Chief Engineer of Panchayat Raj Department and the Secretary, Irrigation, were not present when Mr. Naidu called them to explain the steps taken to repair the tanks.

Earlier, the Mahabubnagar Collector, Mr. G. Ananta Ramu, said the rainfall recorded on June 29 and 30 had been the highest since 1991. The rainfall of 215 mm in Wanaparthy, while it ranged between 100 to 150 mm in other parts of the district, was more than the average district rainfall of 92 mm for the entire month of June.

Explaining with the help of photographs the steps taken to protect the tanks, Mr. Ananta Ramu said precious little could be achieved in spite of the steps taken by the district administration on a war footing.

The Collector attributed the extensive damage to tanks to a chain effect. Contour bunds near some tanks had given way leading to a cascade of water gushing into small tanks whose bunds breached in no time. The force of water from these tanks caused heavy damage to minor irrigation tanks downstream.

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Section  : Southern States
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