Mid-Manair dam leaks after repair

SIRCILLA: Despite repairs having been carried out to prevent leakage of water from the bund of Mid-Manair Dam in last August, water started seeping out again from Sunday morning.

MMD is a key component of the prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme that aims to supply water to various regions of entire Telangana. The Rs 911-crore MM Dam, with a storage capacity of 25.873 tmc ft of water, has 32 gates and is located at Manwada village of Boinapalli mandal in Rajanna Sircilla district.

In August, officials rele-ased Godavari water from Lakshmipur pump house to Mid Manair through the flood canal. Following leakages on the left side of the bund, the dam was drained completely. Leakages were checked for about two months and repairs carried out under the supervision experts from New Delhi and NIT, Warangal.

But water started leaking Sunday morning onwards from the same side of the bund, about 100 metres away from Kandikotkur village.

TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar said right from the beginning, Congress has been pointing out the poor quality of construction at MMD. The repeated leakage despite repairs shows that the construction quality is dismally poor. The Congress leader feared that the dam may breach any time causing havoc in surrounding villages. But the TRS government is in no mood to accept its mistake.

Recently, State Planning Commission vice-chairman Vinod Kumar, acco-mpanied by Choppadandi MLA S. Ravi Shankar and Irrigation Department chairman Eda Shankar Reddy inspected the bund post repairs and declared that it was only a small technical issue. “If this is so, why is the water leaking again,” Ponnam Pra-bhakar asked, demanding a judicial enquiry into the quality.