Hyderabad: With barely a couple of weeks left before the official end of the monsoon season, the future of the three Kaleshwaram project barrages — at Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla — is wrapped in uncertainty with no clarity yet on what needs to be done, or how to go about repairing and restoring the barrages to get them back on stream.
A meeting of state irrigation officials with the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) is expected to be held in New Delhi next week where some clarity on the next steps might be achieved. However, not all tests that the NDSA wanted performed at the barrages could be taken up or completed as this process began late, and some of the scientific tests had to be abandoned midway on account of the monsoon induced flooding of the river.
It may be recalled that the government had repeatedly said that it will not take any steps until the NDSA gives its final report on corrective measures. But with all the required reports not yet ready yet as all tests are not completed yet, there is no saying how long the government may have to wait for a report.
While this is so, some engineers are worried that time may be running out as preparing design repairs, and vetting them could take time and not enough time may be left for taking up and completing the works before the next monsoon season sets in. After the allegations and charges over faulty designs in the first instance, everyone is wary of this aspect and the whole process could take several months, which might even raise questions on whether Kaleshwaram can be ready for the next year, a source said.
The sources said the government also sought to find out if the barrages can be partially used but that the “response was not encouraging” as there is uniformity of opinion that the secant pile foundation design used for the three barrages was just not what was required to build the barrages upon given the nature of the sand and soil under the foundations.
The government has also said that with a judicial probe into the situation at the barrages on, and the Vigilance and Enforcement Wing report on the matter yet to be submitted, any decision on the future would also have to take into consideration the findings of these two processes.
Meanwhile, the Justice P.C. Ghose-headed judicial probe is scheduled to reconvene from Friday and continue holding open court hearings where officials from the irrigation department, and representatives of the contracting agencies are expected to be questioned.
