Telangana Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has assured the six-member National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) experts team that arrived in Hyderabad on Wednesday afternoon that the State Government would extend all cooperation in its task to find out the causes for the damage suffered by Medigadda Barrage of the Kaleshwaram project and also to study the status of other two barrages: Annaram and Sundila.
On their arrival from Delhi and Pune, the NDSA team members had a meeting with the authorities and engineers of the Irrigation Department including those given the responsibility of Kaleshwaram project. The experts team leader and former Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) J. Chandrashekhar Iyer is said to have sought various data including hydrology reports and drawings pertaining to the three barrages.
Official sources stated that the NDSA experts would take up sub-surface study of the strata at the Medigadda Barrage piers that have drifted on October 21, 2023 resulting in development of huge cracks on piers as well as the gates hoisting area, forcing the authorities to empty the barrage completely. Following the development of piping, seepage and leakages at a few places in the immediate downstream of the Annaram and Sundilla Barrages, the authorities have de-watered them too.
The Minister explained the damage suffered by the barrages, particularly Medigadda, through a power point presentation to the NDSA experts team and requested them to investigate the causes for the failure of the barrages thoroughly and submit their report in the earliest possible time instead of taking the specified time of four months.
He stated that the State Government was committed to rehabilitate and restore Medigadda and the other two barrages to bring them back into use based on the recommendations of the experts’ panel. Based on the NDSA report, the State Government would also fix the responsibility on the engineers, authorities and others including contract/work agencies concerned for the failure of the structures and take necessary action against them.
Based on the irregularities found in the Vigilance and Enforcement inquiry into the Medigadda failure, the State Government has already removed Engineer-in-Chief of Kaleshwaram (Ramagundam) N. Venkateshwarlu from service and had discontinued the extension of service given to ENC (General) C. Muralidhar.
Secretary (Irrigation) Rahul Bojja, Special Secretary Prashant Jeevan Patil, ENC (General) G. Anil Kumar, ENC (O&M) B. Nagender Rao, ENC (Ramagundam) K. Sudhakar Reddy, engineers of the Central Designs Organisation and State Dam Safety Authority of the Irrigation Department were present at the meeting.
Speaking later, Mr. Uttam Reddy said they had requested the committee to suggest measures to be taken before the flood season. The NDSA panel would visit Medigadda and Annaram Barrages on March 7 and Sundilla Barrage on March 8. He reiterated that action would be taken against the contract agency L&T based on the preliminary report of the committee and a judicial probe into the Kaleshwaram project too would be instituted soon.
