NALGONDA: Two days after the fifth crest gate of the Musi reservoir collapsed, sending as much as 5,000 cusecs of water downstream in one go, officials have not been able to put a stopper on the water that is being drained into the Krishna river ever since.
Owing to the high pressure of water in the reservoir, one of the joint rods holding the crest gate together faltered, causing its collapse. Lack of official supervision led to the incident, according to sources.
At the time of the incident, the reservoir’s water level was 644.80 feet, a fraction away from its full-tank level of 645 feet. On Monday, two days after the collapse, the inflows into the reservoir were 1,500 cusecs, while the outflows through the gate were 14,060 cusecs.
There have been allegations that the new gates, installed in the year 2016 at an estimated cost of `19 crore, were left in a state of neglect by the officials. They failed to take up proper maintenance of the gates, say sources.
Meanwhile, on the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, secretary Smita Sabharwal and Irrigation CE C Muralidhar Rao visited Musi reservoir and reviewed the arrangements of the installation of new gates. Three crest gates will be brought in from Kalynani dam located in Tirupathi.
The gates have already been shipped and would most likely reach Musi on Tuesday night. They will be installed by Wednesday, according to sources.