Hyderabad: Problems at the Medigadda barrage on Godavari river emerged the very first time when water was released from the barrage in 2019, the year it was inaugurated, the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission of Inquiry was informed on Wednesday.
Former IAS officer and the then principal secretary and later special chief secretary of the irrigation department, Rajat Kumar, also informed the Commission that barrages are only meant to regulate water and that Medigadda was never designed to stop the flow of the river and impound water. The Medigadda barrage was to only ensure optimal levels of water to ensure its availability at the tail end of the storage as required for pumping.
To a question from the Commission on who ordered the impounding of the water, Rajat Kumar said it was the responsibility of the project authority — the chief engineer in-charge of the project — who was to ensure that water flow is regulated and not impounded beyond the designed capacity of the barrage.
Answering a series of questions from Justice Ghose on Medigadda barrage, Rajat Kumar said after the May 2019 inauguration of the barrage, it was observed that some of the concrete structures were damaged following release of water and the then chief engineer of the project was directed to study the problem and undertake remedial measures. There was copious rain and floods in 2019, and similar floods occurred in 2020 and 2021 in the river.
He said as the head of the irrigation department, he reviewed the matter twice and action was to be taken by the project authority, who informed that when water was released, the shooting velocities were much higher than expected because of which the concrete structures were damaged.
To a question on the sinking of part of Block 7 of the Medigadda barrage, Rajat Kumar said the exact reasons for the sinking could not be determined as there was still water stored at the barrage. Experts, he said, were of the opinion that there was massive scouring of the river bed under the barrage foundation and this could have resulted in the sinking of the structure.
Answering another pointed question on whether the agency, L&T PES-JV that built the barrage could have given part of the work on the Block to others, Rajat Kumar said it was quite possible, and that it was the responsibility of the agency to inform the project authority on such issues.
The Commission also questioned another former principal secretary and special chief secretary of the department, S.K. Joshi who initially informed the Commission that he could not recollect the setting up of a High-Powered Committee to oversee the project works but after being shown a copy of a Government Order issued in October 2015, he admitted that he had issued the order as the department’s principal secretary.
He informed the Commission that there was nothing on record to show that any single overall official approval was given by the government for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. He said KLIS comprised many components, and that as per his recollection, some 200 different approvals were given. On whether budgets were set aside for the project works, he said this was done annually, adding that there could have been some anomalies on this front.
He said the problems at Medigadda might have resulted from a number of factors including likely design inadequacies, lack of operations and maintenance, poor quality control, and deficiencies in operating procedures. Joshi also agreed that the agency may have portioned out some of its work to others saying “such things might happen. I do not have any knowledge. This is for the field engineers to say.”
