Hyderabad: Union minister and Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy visited the Medigadda barrage, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (LIP) along with senior BJP leaders on Saturday, November 4.
After an inspection, he demanded a CBI enquiry to find out the reasons behind the sinking of its piers at Medigadda after the expert committee report published by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) pointed to lapses in planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance as reasons for the damage.
“If the chief minister writes a letter to the Centre, a CBI inquiry will be ordered in just 15 minutes,” Reddy said, replying to a query by reporters on whether the Centre would order any inquiry on the issue.
Kishan Reddy claimed the BRS government’s failure and negligence in conducting post-monsoon inspections despite NDSA’s directives had led to the incident.
“The NDSA has repeatedly asked the Telangana State Dam Safety Organization to carry out pre and post-monsoon inspections to monitor unusual behaviour or signs of distress, but this directive had not been followed,” said Kishan on X.
Demanding a comprehensive inquiry, Reddy alleged that KCR and his family intervened in the process of construction, from the project design to execution, including selecting the contractor. “It (the project) isn’t a pitiful condition and the future of the whole project has become uncertain,” he said.
In a letter to the Telangana chief secretary, NDSA member Sanjay Kumar Sibal said the barrage under the present condition is “rendered useless until fully rehabilitated”.ย
What the NDSA report said
The National Dam Safety Authorityโs (NDSA) six-member expert team that investigated the sinking of piers in Block-7 of Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage of the Kaleshwaram project faulted the projectโs planning and design in its report, stating that the damage was caused by a combination of issues involving planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance.
โThe primary reason for the failure is the settlement of the barrage raft. The piers, being monolith with it, have also settled, moved, and cracked. This could occur due to several possible reasons such as piping, wherein transportation of foundation material has occurred. Inadequate bearing capacity of the foundation material (sand), failure of upstream secant piles due to barrage load also led to the failureโ, the report explained.
(With inputs from PTI)
