hyderabad
Engineer organisations such as Hyderabad Engineers Association (HEA), Telangana Irrigation Graduate Engineers Association (TIGEA) and Association of Telangana Assistant Executive Engineers (ATAEE) on Tuesday demanded that Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy apologise to engineers for levelling “baseless allegations“ against them.
In a statement, the organisations stated that Mr. Revanth Reddy, in video messages making rounds on social media, made derogatory and objectionable remarks against Engineer-in-Chief (ENC) C. Muralidhar after the ENC spoke to media persons about the primary assessment/reasons for the sinking of some piers of the Medigadda Barrage of Kaleshwaram Project.
Working president of TIGEA N. Sridhar, general secretary B. Gopalakrishna Rao, HEA president A.S.N. Reddy and president of ATAEE Bandi Srinivas stated that the ENC had told media that drift of sand deposits beneath some piers of Block-7 of Medigadda could be seen as the primary reason for their sinking, but only a detailed investigation could bring out the exact causes.
Mr. Revanth Reddy, however, made derogatory remarks against the ENC and other engineers of the Kaleshwaram project without knowing the facts. He had made similar comments against Lift Irrigation Advisor K. Penta Reddy, too, in the past, they stated.
They also sought to explain the difference between dams and barrages as well as facts about the design and construction aspects of the Kaleshwaram project, which includes barrages. They stated that all components of the Kaleshwaram project, including the Medigadda part, were designed following design manuals of Central Designs Organisation and Central Board of Irrigation and Power and adheres to the codes of Bureau of Indian Standards.
The designs, including rafts and cut-off walls, were finalised in consultation with the engineers of design wing in Central Water Commission (CWC) and after studying the designs of Tapovan Barrage, on their suggestion. Several barrages constructed after the country’s Independence were based on raft foundations.
Incidents of piers sinking had taken place in Dowleswaram (Sir Arthur Cotton) Barrage on the Godavari river, Farakka Barrage on the Ganga and Prakasam Barrage on the Krishna river in the past. They were successfully rectified and restored by the engineers, they explained.
Medigadda Barrage was constructed by L&T under the supervision of its expert engineers and the Irrigation department, too, had its teams at every barrage to inspect the quality standards from time to time.
