NDSA puts onus of repairing Medigadda on L&T: reports

HYDERABAD: The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) investigating the reasons for the sagging of pillars of the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) submitted its interim report to the Irrigation and Command Area Development Department of Telangana.

However, the department is tight-lipped on the details of the report submitted by the NDSA team led by J Chandrasekhar Iyer, and officials when contacted said that there could be an announcement after May 13, 2024, the day of polling in Telangana.

Unconfirmed reports said that the record-level floods to River Godavari in 2019 affected the Medigadda barrage and the construction company L&T would be responsible for undertaking the repairs because the clause of defect liability was valid at that time.

Experts said that the water left through the gates fell far from the apron leading to the massive displacement of the concrete blocks exposing the sand underneath. This resulted in the sand boiling causing the raft foundation to sink.

The Telangana Government urged the NDSA for a way forward regarding Medigadda and the two other barrages Annaram and Sundilla which allegedly developed seepages similar to that of Medigadda.

The NDSA said to have suggested ways to undertake repairs to block-7 of the Medigadda barrage so that water could be lifted for the next cropping season without hampering the repairs. The L&T would have to build a cofferdam to stop water from entering the damaged block and completely remove the block to undertake construction. The I&CAD was advised not to go for full storage of reservoirs and to store water to a level optimum to lift water from the pump houses.

Meanwhile, retired judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh investigating the reasons behind the damage to Medigadda and the other two barrages would be visiting the damaged barrage on Tuesday. He met with the Telangana I&CAD officials on Monday and discussed various issues related to the barrage. He advised the department to induct engineers not connected with the construction of KLIP as technical members of the commission.