Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, his cabinet colleagues, and MLAs of the Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, including Jaffar Hussain and Kausar Mohinuddin, inspected the Medigadda barrage, whose piers had “sunk” last year, on Tuesday, February 13.
On the occasion, Revanth Reddy criticised the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) administration under K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) for the project’s ‘failure’, alleging financial mismanagement and lack of effectiveness despite the expenditure of Rs 97,000 crores.
“According to the official figures, Rs 97,000 crores were spent, and even 97,000 acres were not irrigated,” he said.
Revanth further remarked that the damage to Medigadda is “beyond repair” and reconstruction is a must.
After the inspection, Revanth Reddy said, “The Kaleshwaram project, which was built with the hard work of the people of Telangana, fell victim to KCR’s thirst for money. The Medigadda barrage cannot be repaired, so the National Dam Safety Authority thinks that a complete reconstruction is required.”
Telangana chief minister also confirmed that seepages are also found in the Annaram and Sunidilla reservoirs of the Kaleshwaram project. This inspection comes during the ongoing debate between the BRS and the Congress over the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) taking over the Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects.
Touted as the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project, the barrage’s pillars have developed cracks and, according to the National Dam Safety Authority, “pillars numbering 15 to 20 of the sixth to eighth blocks of the Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage of the Kaleswaram project had reportedly sunk on the night of 21 October 2023.
