BHUPALPALLY: A team from the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), led by its chairman Anil Jain, along with Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) engineer-in-chief N Venkateshwarlu and other officials, as well as representatives of L&T, the contracting agency, inspected the Medigadda barrage. They will submit their report to the Union government soon.
Jain and his team spoke to the local engineering staff and asked questions regarding the barrage before and after the damage was noticed.The team, with the help of ladders, reached the damaged part of the barrage and inspected the cracks. The team also collected samples from the damaged piers. During their visit to the barrage, no one was allowed in the vicinity. Jain and his team spoke to the barrage staff for hours to ascertain the reasons for the damage to the piers.
Following a letter to the Union government by Union Minister and BJP State president G Kishan Reddy, the Centre constituted a committee as per para 8 of Schedule-II of the Dam Safety Act 2021 to examine the reasons for the sinking of the piers of the Medigadda (Lakshmi) Barrage.
In his letter to the Jal Shakti Minister on Monday, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said that it was pertinent to note that last year, the Annaram and Kannepally pump houses of the Kaleshwaram project were submerged due to the floods and now the sinking of the pillars of the barrage has occurred. “Such continuous failures of this project need to be thoroughly investigated in the interest of public safety,” he wrote.
Kishan also raised certain questions in his letter to the Union Minister, including: “Whether foundation investigations were done and whether the ‘borehole samples’ were taken to know how much compaction needs to be done before the project designs of this barrage were made; Whether the river cross-section studies were done at both pre and post monsoon times to study the upstream and downstream cross sections and compare the model studies with ground reality and correct any discrepancies if any were noticed?”
Kishan’s letter said that the piers seemed to have failed because the soil was still settling and was not treated properly. “This indicates that it is a fit case of foundation inspection failure. Whether the designing responsibility is given to the construction agency under the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) method or the designs done by the state irrigation department’s CDO (central design organisation)? Responsibility needs to be fixed accordingly,” Kishan said in his letter.