Hyderabad: Anil Kumar, Engineer-in-Chief (General) of the Irrigation department has instructed the contracting firms to make temporary repairs to Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages so that water could be stored in the monsoons.
During a meeting held by ENC along with the top brass of the irrigation department and representatives of the irrigation contracting companies in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Anil Kumar told them that based on the report of the Dam Safety Authority, permanent repairs will be done at the barrages of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).
Representatives of the contracting firms sought to know from the irrigation department what kind of work needed to be taken up, construction costs, and who was going to give the designs for the works.
They brought to the notice of the state government that bills amounting to more than Rs 600 crore were yet to be paid by the latter, for the earlier works done at the three barrages.
They were known to have asked the irrigation officials how they could take up any work when bills for operations and maintenance for the past three years.
Some of the attendees were known to have expressed their opinion that tests on the barrage’s strength and robustness were not done and this was the first time that the entire water was emptied and that in two of the barrages, sand was cast inside the barrage. Some of them thought that building the barrages and using them as reservoirs could have caused problems for the project.
The irrigation officials asked them to erect sheet piles on the eighth block of the Medigadda barrage, do grouting work, and ascertain how deep the pits underneath the raft are. Discussion on the steps to be taken to prevent submergence of the pump houses was discussed during the meeting.
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