ELURU/VIJAYAWADA: The ground trembled for a few seconds and cracks appeared near a restaurant at the Polavaram project site in West Godavari district on Sunday, creating panic among visitors.
The area is located one kilometre away and 20 metres above the spill channel. When the visitors to the Polavaram project site flocked to the restaurant to have their breakfast around 10 am, the ground trembled. Cracks with 5-6 inch width appeared on the roadside where the buses were parked.
The locals and the project site employees pacified visitors saying that there is nothing to worry as such occurrences are normal at the project site.
The incident led to interruption to the vehicular traffic on the road that connects 19 Agency villages to Polavaram. The panicked tourists were shifted to Polavaram by a police team led by Polavaram sub-inspector Surya Ramachandra Rao.
When contacted, officials dismissed the reports of tremors and said no such thing has happened. The incident was due to the excavation works being carried out for the spill channel and the situation was restored to normalcy within hours, they maintained. Speaking to TNIE, Polavaram Chief Engineer V Sridhar explained that there is nothing to panic and such incidents are normal at project sites. The area, where the restaurant is located, has been built by the excavated earth from the spill channel. As the works are under progress, there was some spill of the shored-up earth. “Everything is in order and we are taking all measures for ensuring safety of people and tourists,” he clarified.
It is the second time that such an incident has happened at the site in recent months. On November 3, 2018, similar cracks appeared on the ground near the checkpost, 3 km away from the project site. At that time, dumping of excavated earth on the roadside and overburden were cited as reasons. “The incident happened as the moisture in the soil decreased. The cracks developed on the road because of the changes in the weather,” RTGS AWARE had clarified.