Repair Work Starts at Medigadda Barrage Site

Adilabad: Nearly three months after the sinking of the piers of the Medigadda barrage, preliminary restoration works began at the site on Thursday.

The state government was tight-lipped over who – the government or the contractor L&T – was executing the works and who would pay for it. According to villagers of Ambatipalli, the closest habitation to the barrage, earth-filling was taken up in the last two days. Tippers were seen carrying loads of earth and gravel with which the filling was done.

A top state functionary confirmed to Deccan Chronicle that a cofferdam would be built to divert the water away from Block 7 where two to three pillars sank on October 21. The cost of the cofferdam is expected to be around Rs 60 crore.

Once the temporary structure is constructed and water flow to the site is stopped, the experts can conduct detailed investigations on the extent of damage, the cause of the damage and more importantly, whether the damage is limited to Block 7, he said.

He refused to divulge if L&T had agreed to cover the cost under the defect liability clause. “All I can say is that the state government with the help of L&T has begun investigations,” he said. The investigation works started a few days ago after a high-level meeting held by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy with top functionaries of L&T and state irrigation engineers.

The state government and L&T had differed on the defect liability and lapse of the defect liability period. Though both had announced at the time of the incident that L&T would foot the bill for repairs, the construction major later turned around and asked the state government to release funds for the cofferdam construction.

“Once either party agrees to pay the cost, the subsequent repairs which is estimated to cost Rs 500 crore-plus, that too if the damage is limited to a block, will fall in its scope,” an irrigation official said.

The state functionary also feigned ignorance on the cost of restoration of the pump house last year and who, the government or contractor Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, had paid for it. Like in the case of the Medigadda barrage, the then irrigation special chief secretary Rajat Kumar had hurriedly announced that MEIL would have to bear the expenditure for the restoration of the pump house.