Villages Evacuated As Weir of Mid-Manair Dam Breaches

Karimnagar: Due to the abundant inflow of water into the project, the under-construction weir of Mid-Manair Dam in Karimnagar district suffered a breach and the flood water has been overflowing dangerously. The alerted officials have swung into action and are evacuating the people of low-lying villages under the project.

The upper part of the earthen weir of the dam has been eroded forming gorges at many places and the current of the huge flood water is overflowing to the downstream by gradually washing away the bund to the dangerous level. The water storage capacity of the dam is 5 lakh Cusec.

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao and Finance Minister Etela Rajendar including the district Collector Nithu Kumari Prasad inspected the situation at the dam and promised the locals that of all the necessary precautionary steps would be taken and assured them not to worry about the situation. They also said that the evacuated families of the submerged villages would be given the compensation by the government.

As part of precautionary measures, the officials are busy evacuating the low-lying villages Kodurupaka, Manwada and Rudravaram on war footing to avoid any untoward mishaps. So far, 50 families were evacuated from the above villages. Due to the breakage to the weir of the dam, the transportation between Karimnagar and Sirisilla has been blocked. The evacuating operations are underway.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Response Forces (NDRF) from the Centre have been requisitioned to the Mid-Manair project.