Medigadda Dilemma Before Govt: Catch the Designer or Get Repair Done

HYDERABAD: Even as L&T Construction — under pressure from the Telangana government to own up to ‘faulty construction’ of the Medigadda barrage and pony up for repairs and reconstruction of the damaged section of the barrage — continues to kick the ball around and not give an assurance of doing so, questions are being asked of the state government for ‘going easy’ on those who designed the project.

The current plan of the new government, it was learnt, is not to take on too much right away and launch a political battle with former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, in light of him having ‘designed’ the project and BRS’s repeated claims of the same, reminding people of the same while talking about Kaleshwaram project, of which the now practically defunct Medigadda barrage is the lynchpin.

The government plans to order a judicial probe into the sinking incident and fix responsibility as part of the probe findings, as far as the origin of the cause of the damage to the Medigadda barrage goes.

In the meanwhile, with nearly Rs 1 lakh crore locked up in a project that would not be of any use unless the Medigadda barrage is repaired, the Congress government has been bearing down, albeit gently, on L&T to agree to take up repairs/reconstruction at its own cost.

If L&T agrees to this, sources said, it would be tantamount to the company agreeing that it did a shoddy job of construction, something L&T, for good reason, is not willing to accept. While a via media solution appears still some way off, questions are also being raised on just how much work needs to be done before repairs can begin.

To start with, a cofferdam, expected to cost between Rs 50 crore and Rs 60 crore, is to be built around Block 7, where the subsidence took place and cracks appeared in six of its piers, so engineers can dig deep to ascertain the extent of the damage.

However, this alone may not be enough, going by the National Dam Safety Authority’s November 1 report to the Telangana irrigation department. The NDSA made it clear that inspections were also required for blocks 6 and 8 “immediately to see if there is any piping/settlement.”

For this, engineers would have to study these two additional blocks, just as they have to for Block 7, which would require additional cofferdams, which will take the inspection costs alone to nearly Rs 200 crore.

According to sources, for now, the entire issue boils down to not just who is to be found responsible for what happened at Medigadda, and try and bring it to functioning status, but more importantly, where the money for all of this will come from.