Hyderabad: A delegation led by irrigation, food, and civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, minister of transport and BC welfare Ponnam Prabhakar, IT minister D Sridhar Babu, roads & buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, and I&PR minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, visited the Medigadda barrage on Friday, December 29.
The ministers are examining the Medigadda barrage first-hand at Mahadevpur mandal of Jayashankar-Bhupalapalli district. The state government will soon present a detailed presentation for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
The presentation highlighted the Telangana region’s unfavourable topography. The Godavari river, flowing at an altitude below 200 meters, is a challenge for water diversion to the higher altitudes of Telangana.
It also indicated over-exploitation of water resources upstream. With the construction of multiple dams and reservoirs along the Krishna and Godavari rivers in Maharashtra, there is a negative impact on water availability downstream, affecting state agriculture and water supply.
A total of 98,570 acres are served by the irrigation project, with 456 minor irrigation (MI) tanks filled through its canals, covering approximately 39,146 acres. Furthermore, the project has facilitated the filling of 2,143 MI tanks through other projects’ canals, including SRSP – I&II and Nizam Sagar, covering about 1,67,050 acres, the PPT showed.
Blame BRS govt for ‘irregularities’
The ministers asked the concerned irrigation authorities, including Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar, present at the site, to address the issues raised either in written form or at a future review meeting.
The irrigation minister expressed confidence in the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) expert panel report, emphasising that it accurately pointed out flaws in the design, construction, and quality of the projects based on past governance experience.
The ministers also highlighted extensive irregularities in the project, emphasising the necessity of exposing these concerns through judicial and technical investigations. They criticised the previous BRS government for deviating from the original plan of implementing gravity-based water flow till Yellampally barrage by constructing a barrage at Tummidihatti.
Additionally, they criticised irrigation department engineers for accepting project components that were not practical under pressure from their previous political superiors.
