Prakasam Barrage - Vijayawada

 

                Krishna River in the Deccan plateau is the third-longest river in India, after the Ganga and Godavari.  The river, also called Krishnaveni, is 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) long and its length in Maharashtra is 282 kilometres.  It is a major source of irrigation in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. 

Those travelling by train via Vijayawada will enjoy the river closer to the Station as also the barrage.  The Prakasam Barrage stretches 1223.5 m across the Krishna River connecting Vijayawada and Guntur districts in Andhra Pradesh. The barrage serves also as a road bridge and spans over a lake. The three canals associated with the barrage run through the city of Vijayawada, crossing it and giving it a Venetian appearance. 

The idea of constructing a dam across the river Krishna dates back to 1798. It began in the hands of captain Buckle and was revised in 1839 and 1841 by Captain Best and Captain Lake. After the endorsement of Major Cotton, the board of Directors of the East India Company approved it on 5 January 1850. The dam was started in 1852 and completed in 1855. It cost Rs 1.75 crore in those days and seems to have paid the then government a return of 18%. It used to irrigate 7 lakh acres.

 

Later, the State Government constructed a bridge that was named after Tanguturi Prakasam, the first Chief Minister of Andhra.  Completed in 1957, it irrigates  over 1.2 million acres of land. This barrage also supplies water to Buckingham canal which was initially constructed as an inland navigation canal but was later used as an irrigation water supply canal.   

General Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton KCSI (1803 – 1899) was a British army officer and irrigation engineer who worked in the Madras Presidency. Cotton devoted his life to the construction of irrigation and navigation canals throughout British India. He helped many people by building the Dowleswaram Barrage (Rajahmundry), the Prakasam Barrage, and the Kurnool Cuddappah Canal (K. C. Canal).  Sir Arthur Cotton Museum has been built in his honour in Rajamahendravaram, Andhra Pradesh. The museum holds approximately one hundred images and 15 machine tools that Cotton used when constructing the barrage in Andhra Pradesh from 1847 to 1852.

 
Interesting !
 
Regards – S. Sampathkumar
1.2.2o25