Sand Mining at Annaram Risky
Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday accused the state government of actively undermining the safety of the Annaram dam on the Godavari river by allowing large-scale sand mining right next to its foundations.
“BRS demands that all sand mining near the dam be stopped immediately and action be taken against all those involved in the activity,” Rama Rao said in a statement. Rama Rao said that after conspiring against Medigadda dam, similar conspiracies emerged to jeopardize Annaram dam.
He said digging for sand right next to the dam foundations was not only illegal but also dangerous as it could affect the stability of the structure. “This seems to be yet another attempt to create conditions at the dam and use this situation to blame BRS once again. The Congress was conspiring against the Kaleshwaram project from the beginning and now pushing the Annaram dam into a dangerous zone by allowing removal of sand near the dam pillars and foundations,” Rama Rao said.
“Sand removal at Annaram is an example of daylight robbery by the sand mafia supported by the Congress government and if anything happens in the dam from now on, the responsibility for it will lie with the Congress government,” Rama Rao said.
Responding to Rama Rao’s allegations, an irrigation department official said sand dumping in Annaram dam is a regular occurrence as the dam spillway is built as per designs 6 to 8 meters below the natural river bed level. The Maneru river joins the Godavari river above Annaram and the water brings with it a lot of sand. Since the dam structure is below the river bed level, sand accumulation is inevitable and needs to be dredged regularly.
“Whenever Godavari gets flooded, sand accumulates in the dam. It was also recently explained to the irrigation department that sand should be removed up to 10 km upstream and not just near the dam, but this has not been taken into account and sand is removed near the dam only after the mining department approves its removal,” said another source involved in discussions on the issue.
“This may not be a problem for now as the water level has dropped, but if the focus is only on removing sand near the dam, this could create problems when the river floods again,” the source said.
