HYDERABAD: The state government is likely to construct a cofferdam above the seventh pier of the Medigadda barrage to divert water from the Godavari river for the Kharif season.
The government is expecting the preliminary report from the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme in two to three days. “Once, we receive the report, the chief minister will take the final call on how to go about the damaged Medigadda barrage,” sources in the government said.
Though there were reports that the contracting agency, L&T, had come forward to repair the damaged piers of the Medigadda barrage on its own, the sources neither confirmed nor denied it. They added that they would follow the suggestions given by the NDSA in letter and spirit.
Asked about giving the coffer dam construction works to L&T, the sources said if the company were capable then it would have been considered such a proposition during the planning and execution of the Medigadda barrage itself.
It may be recalled that an NDSA expert team visited the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages for the second time in the last week of March. Around half a dozen piers of the Medigadda barrage were damaged in October 2023. Though the NDSA had asked the expert committee to submit the report within four months, the state government had requested that an interim report be provided before the onset of the monsoon.
Meanwhile, the opposition BRS claimed that it was because of the efforts of former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that the L&T came forward to take up repairs at its own cost. “KCR’s persistent efforts pay off. L&T to repair the damaged barrage piers and construct a cofferdam at their own expense at Medigadda,” the BRS official handle on X posted on Wednesday. However, the government sources refused to comment on the post.
Final call after NDSA report
The government is expecting the preliminary NDSA report on KLIS in two to three days. “Once, we receive the report, the CM will take a final call on how to go about the damaged Medigadda barrage,” govt sources said