“It is not just the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project’s Medigadda Barrage and other barrages that are in danger. Even the earlier Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams have serious maintenance issues causing potential danger to their stability if repairs are not addressed immediately, as per the recent reports of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA),” warned chairman of the Centre’s Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers and adviser to the Union Ministry of Water Resources (Jal Shakti) Sriram Vedire on Thursday.
Making a power point presentation at a press conference to explain about the ‘failures’ of Congress (previous and now) and the BRS Governments in handling the various irrigation projects across the Krishna and Godavari Rivers, he asserted that only the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) alone can solve the contentious water sharing issues between both the Telugu States and ensure maintenance work to the dams.
Deep scour
At the Srisailam dam, the NDSA team has found a ‘deep scour’ which has the tendency to induce retrogression towards the dam, causing potential danger of stability of dam in sliding if left unattended. At the foundation gallery most of the drainage holes were not functioning due to choking, which could also affect the stability of the dam. Further, the drains in galleries were choked and should be made functional by draining out the seepage water, he said.
TS-AP row
The NDSA team, which had visited the Nagarjunasagar dam last month, had realised that the operation and maintenance work by the TS irrigation department has come to a halt following the ‘occupation’ of the right side power house and regularator by the AP Government. The CRPF is now manning the portion and its permission has been sought for taking up repairs but the work is yet to start, said Mr. Sriram.
Even the painting and greasing of gates done departmentally by the Telangana side have been hampered due to restriction on movement of their employees. These works are of importance from dam safety angle and should be completed before start of monsoon, he said.
A speedy resolution of operation of spillway gates should be taken up as it could lead to dam safety issue in view of the TS side reluctance to do so. Hence, the good offices of KRMB should be utilised by both States to resolve the issues though TS is supposed to carry out mandatory pre-monsoon inspections as mandated by Dam Safety Act 2021.
Also, Mr. Sriram emphasised the need for telemetry equipment to check the water drawals by both States as KRMB records had showed “illegal” withdrawals by both sides. Both States need to release ₹6.12 crore for telemetry systems but funds are not being released, he charged.
With regard to the ongoing KLIP fiasco, he claimed that the NDSA had written “five to six” times to both BRS and Congress Governments but “full information” has not been furnished till date including the details provided to the Legislative Assembly about the irregularities detected by the Vigilance and Enforcement wing in the design, construction and maintenance of the Medigadda Barrage.
The NDSA has formed a committee that would soon visit the State and the State is requested to cooperate by providing all the information sought. It is more than four months that the incident occurred and no more precious time should be lost, he added.
