O&M Not Part of Original KLIS Tender Docs, Official Says

Hyderabad:Revelations of serious irregularities right from the start of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) by the then BRS government and the irrigation department to officials washing their hands off the problems and placing the decision-making process at the feet of “higher ups” from whom they received instructions continued at the public hearings by the Justice PC Ghose Commission of Inquiry into the causes of problems at Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.

On Wednesday, the engineer-in-chief, operations & maintenance B Nagendra Rao, among irrigation department officials who were cross-examined by Justice Ghosh, informed the Commission that O&M conditions should have ideally been part of the agreement entered into by the contracting agencies.

Answering a specific question from Justice Ghosh whether leaving out O&M responsibilities was an omission, Nagendra Rao said non-inclusion of this aspect in the tender documents was an omission. He, however, did not specify who made that omission.

On whether evaluation reports were prepared on the three barrages following floods and the development of damages, and what the reports had said, Nagendra Rao revealed that the State Dam Safety Organisation, a unit of the irrigation department, placed Medigadda in Category I (indicating a need for urgent action), and Annaram and Sundilla in Category II.

The official, answering a series of questions from Justice Ghose, agreed that keeping the barrages full could have resulted in the problems including seepages and leaks, and the eventual sinking of part of Block 7 of Medigadda barrage.

On restrictions on barrages not to impound water and whether they are designed to discharge floods without any moderation, Nagendra Rao replied in the affirmative. When Justice Ghose asked who gave the instructions to impound water, he said “instructions from higher ups” were followed. Making it clear that he will not allow naming people, Justice Ghose, however, added that the “cat will be out of the bag.”

He also said that the ENC O&M position was created in January 2021 and until then there was no overall supervision of operations and maintenance activities. He said later, the chief engineer of Ramagundam irrigation circle under whose jurisdiction the three barrages fall, was tasked with ensuring O&M activities and reports were called for but none were received from him.

He further informed the Commission that the Central Water Commission manual protocols were not followed with respect to upkeep of the barrages, and that the agencies given the contracts for the construction of the barrages did not follow specified O&M protocols.

Justice Ghose also questioned V Ajay Kumar, chief engineer, quality control, if he took any action after the problems at the barrages came to light.

The official, who said he began heading the QC wing after the completion of the barrages construction, replied in the negative when Justice Ghose asked him if he took any action to check quality of the work after the problems at the barrages came to light.

When the official did not respond with clarity, the Justice asked Ajay Kumar if his conscience did not prick him as the quality control head of the irrigation department to find out what went wrong.

In not checking up on the quality aspects after the problems came to light could well be viewed as dereliction of duty, Justice Ghose said. Referring to the affidavit filed earlier by the officials, Justice Ghose said it appears that the document was filed without referring to records, adding that as the QC chief, people of the state depended on him to ensure good quality work.