Strengthening of Penna River flood wall essential: Nellore MP, MLA tell Amit Shah

Nellore MP Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy and Kovur MLA Vemireddy Prashanthi Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, requesting the modernisation of flood walls in Vidavalur and Indukurpeta mandals to protect paddy fields in the SPSR Nellore district from seasonal floods in the Penna river.

With the frequent floods breaching the banks of the Penna River, affected farmers have been raising a hue and cry, demanding a lasting solution.

The leaders presented the need to fortify the existing walls and to form new bunds wherever necessary to prevent the raging river from gushing into the adjoining fields during the monsoon season, thereby eliminating the possibility of flooding and preventing avoidable damage to the crops.

It may be recalled that the release of excess water from the Somasila reservoir into the Penna River in November 2021 resulted in the flooding of several villages in the Kovur constituency, pushing Buchireddypalem, Vidavalur, Kovur, and Indukurpeta mandals in knee-deep water and bringing life to a standstill for several days.

Recalling the nightmare suffered in her constituency in the past, Ms. Prashanthi Reddy stressed the urgent need to ‘floodproof’ the vicinity of the river.

Similarly, Mr. Prabhakar Reddy pointed out that the ancient Gandhi Ashram at Pallipadu, a memorial built on the banks of river Penna to commemorate the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to this little village as part of his Satyagraha movement, suffered a large-scalebreach in up to 7.5 acres.

“The Ashram, which is hailed as the ‘Sabarmati of the South’, faces a struggle for existence today,” the MP explained to the Home Minister, appealing for a retaining wall from the Ashram to Pallipadu village at an outlay of ₹167 crore.

The leaders also requested the centre for forming the flood wall at a cost of ₹69 crore in Indukurpeta Mandal and another in Vidavalur Mandal at a cost of ₹95 crore.

Mr. Shah has reportedly assured the duo to take up the said works under the National Disaster Management Authority.