Kaleshwaram\'s Sundilla, Annaram Barrages in Trouble

Hyderabad: Two more of the three barrages that are part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation System (KLIS) – at Sundilla, and Annaram, have developed leaks from under the foundations causing concern among irrigation officials over safety of the two barrages. According to irrigation department officials, efforts are on to ‘build ring bunds’ – laying of sand bags on the upstream side of the barrages to cut water flow from the affected areas of the two barrages – was on but so far have not met with much success.

On Wednesday morning, it was first believed that the problem of leakages from under the foundations was only at the Annaram ‘Saraswati’ barrage, but soon after, it emerged that a similar problem was also occurring at the Sundilla ‘Parvati’ barrage. Sources said that an emergency ring bunds was being ‘built’ at Sundilla to reduce water pressure and the leak, and to prevent sand from getting displaced from under the foundations but their effectiveness in controlling the leaks, are questionable.

It may be recalled that on October 21, some of the pillars of Block No 7 of Medigadda barrage sank with officials saying that the most likely cause could have been scouring away sand from under the foundations of the block. With the fresh incidents of water leakage from under the foundations at Sundilla and Annaram on Wednesday (November 1), sources said the same process of scouring of sand could have occurred and continuing to take place resulting in the leakages.

According to sources, the situation at Sundilla was ‘slightly better’ in that sand is not visible in the leak at its 58th pillar, unlike at Annaram where the water bubbling up on the downstream side of the barrage at its 28th and 38th gates sand too could be seen being thrown up to the surface. The sources said at least at Sundilla, some leaks as the one currently being experienced were noticed earlier too over the past two years.

At Annaram on Wednesday, irrigation officials were trying to stem the leak by bringing sand bags in a boat and throwing them into the water on the downstream side of the barrage near the 28th and 38th gates hoping that the bags would find their mark and plug the leaks.