Visakhapatnam: The frequent inundation of crops and villages along river Vamsadhara in Srikakulam district during rainy season may come to an end soon.Taking serious note of the flooding over the last few years in the region, the state government recently sanctioned a Rs 1,000 crore project, in which a concrete flood protection wall will be constructed along the banks of the river, right from its head at Battili to its tailend at Kalingapatnam in Srikakulam district.The river originates in Odisha and meets the sea at Kalingapatnam beach in Andhra Pradesh. The total length of the river is 254 kilometres. In AP, it travels 84 kilometres before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.M Surendra Reddy, superintending engineer at Vamsadhara major irrigation project, told TOI the decision was taken to prevent the inundation of villages and agriculture crops along the river in the district.The villages and crops along the river generally get flooded if the water level of the river is between 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh cusecs.“To prevent such situations in future and to protect the villages and crops from getting inundated, the flood protection wall is planned,” Reddy said.He further said that tenders have already been awarded for the civil works, while the process of land acquisition is currently going on. “We expect the work to begin in the next two months, and are hopeful that the project would be ready by March 2020. Inundation of villages and crops along river Vamsadhara will end once and for all once the construction work ends. The protection wall can withstand up to 4 lakh cusecs of flood water,” Reddy added.The funds for the project would be completely borne by the state government and there would be no contribution from the Centre. “It is a non-plan project so there will be no financial support from the Centre.The flood wall work requires manpower and machinery. Most of the works would be done during the summer or post monsoon season,” Reddy added.According to officials, 270mm is the maximum average rainfall in Srikakulam. Normal monthly rainfall of the district is around 190-200mm during monsoon seasons. The farmers who reside along the river mostly depend on paddy crop, which is usually in its tender stage in the month of August. Flooding at this stage causes huge losses for them.

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