Reversing the rivers..

Over the past 10-12 months, I have traveled to some good places. All the trips are memorable. I wanted to write posts on each of them.. but really, never got enough time - so bad of me.

The most recent memorable trip is to Bhadrachalam. What started as a desire to travel from Rajahmundry to Bhadrachalam by the famous 'launch trip via Papi Kondalu' ended up as a piligrimage to Bhadrachalam. Of course, we had a trip in launch over Godavari - from Kunavaram to Papi Kondalu and back - and it was really excellent. I sincerely felt that the Godavari basin in Khammam and East & West Godavari districts is the pride of Andhra Pradesh. Very lovely surroundings.

The mighty Godavari, the majestic hills on either side, the resplendent greenery around.. it was real paradise.

It is a very sad news that the Polavaram project across Godavari is soon going to make these wonderful trips history.

I remember reading a report some time back that world over (or at least in India), having mega projects including Bhakra Nangal, Nagarjuna Sagar or not having them would not have made a net difference to the economy. The costs involved (including physical infrastructure, movement of people, land lost for reservoir, emotional issues etc.) are usually not recovered in even 100 years. Of course, they are useful for electric power generation - hydro electricity.

One should, however, remember that across Kavery, around Trichy there are two famous 'dams' - Kallanai and Melanai (rock-dam and upper-dam, respectively.) Kallanai was constructed by Karikala Chola of the yore (AD 2.). Melanai is more recent. It seems they served the irrigation needs of the area for all these ages..
(I am not very sure if Melanai is the same as Mukkombu, where the river Kollidam branches off from Kaveri.) From Mukkombu, the Srirangam island starts. Here, the anicut is constructed by Sir Arthur Cotton. A statue revering him can be seen on the land mass (a beautiful park) between Kaveri and Kollidam.
Cotton also constructed the famous Dhavaleswaram anicut across Godavari, which transformed famine-struck East and West Godavari districts into grannaries of Andhra Pradesh.
Then there is Prakasam barrage near Vijayawada, irrigating many areas in Krishna and Guntur districts.

One visible difference separating these good projects from the allegedly-useless mega projects is their size. They don't really obstruct the rivers to create huge reservoirs. They only divert the flow of the river into canals.

While Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar over the Krishna are good for hydro electric, their irrigation utility is questionable (vide point on the 'costs' above.) I have similar doubts on Sri Ram Sagar over Godavari.

Well, whatever is the past, many like me believe that projects like Polavarm on Godavari and Pulichintala on Krishna, which are on cards, are surely going to be of use to politicians and contractors than the farmers (and travel and enviro-enthusiasts like me.)

Lets see..