Hyderabad: The Telangana irrigation department on Wednesday practically admitted to lapses in the construction of Medigadda ‘Lakshmi’ barrage on the Godavari river with its top official saying “there could have been a minor defect or a problem in such a large project no doubt, otherwise why will this happen?”
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of state irrigation officials with the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) team, which was on a visit here, to ascertain what went wrong at Medigadda, engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar, however, was quick to add there was “no structural or design fault in the project. Had this been the case, we would have known in the first season itself. The barrage withstood floods for three years.”
He said the barrage was built on raft foundations and there could have been some shifting of the sand under the raft foundation that led to the current situation.
Asked if the raft foundations – essentially large floating blocks of concrete into which the piers are anchored – were also used for Annaram ‘Saraswati’ and Sundilla ‘Parvati’ barrages of KLIS, Muralidhar said the entire stretch of the Godavari river on which the project was built is a thick bed of sand and the same design was followed for all three barrages.
On whether Annaram and Sundilla barrages could face the threat of sinking of piers, and whether they need inspection, Muralidhar told Deccan Chronicle that safety checks will be conducted. “We will follow the standard protocols for the others too,” he said.
Muralidhar said the NDSA team has sought additional information which is being provided. “They said they will give their report based on which we will take up restoration activity. L&T said it will take the responsibility for the restoration. By the end of October, the river’s flow should subside. We hope we can look more closely at the damage in November and try to finish repairs by next summer,” he said.
“This was a big work and there is a possibility of something being overlooked. A 110 per cent perfection is not possible, some items could have not gone the way they should have. We will study all of this in detail,” he said.
