Tasked with inquiring into the causes of the damage suffered by the Medigadda barrage, an expert team of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on Thursday conducted a thorough inspection of the barrage site at Ambatpally village in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.
The team headed by former Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) J Chandrasekhar Iyer drove straight from Hyderabad to the Medigadda barrage and conducted an in-depth inspection of the barrage site.
The bridge atop the barrage that connects Telangana’s Mahadevpur mandal with Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district remained shut since October 21, 2023.
The committee is scheduled to inspect the Annaram and Sundilla barrages of the KLIP on March 8 and submit a detailed report on a gamut of aspects including those related to design, construction and quality control to the NDSA. The committee was constituted by the NDSA under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, a couple of days ago following a written request of the Telangana government last month, sources said.
The Medigadda incident triggered a political slugfest weeks ahead of the Assembly elections in 2023 with the then main Opposition Congress party blaming the “Medigadda fiasco” on the previous BRS government for what it termed as “faulty design and construction” and “mega scam” in the construction of the KLIP.
The BRS strongly rebutted the charges accusing the Congress as well as the BJP of trying to magnify “minor damage” of Medigadda barrage for their selfish political motives.
