BRS team visits Medigadda barrage, says damage only in small portion

KTR alleged that the Revanth Reddy government was trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill in the Kaleshwaram project

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Friday sought to underplay the damages caused to Medigadda barrage of the mighty Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project on Godavari river and demanded that the Congress government should take up the repairs immediately, instead of playing politics.

BRS leader K T Rama Rao along with other party members during their visit to Medigadda barrage, on Friday (HT Photo)

A delegation of BRS leaders led by party working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao visited the Medigadda barrage site to inspect the damages caused to the barrage, which has since been shut down pending clearance by the National Dam Safety Authority.

Speaking to the reporters later, KTR alleged that the Revanth Reddy government was trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill in the Kaleshwaram project only to malign the previous BRS government, alleging that it had wasted ₹1 lakh crore in constructing the project.

“Out of 1.6 km long Medigadda barrage, there are damages only in a portion of 50 metres. But the Congress leaders are projecting as if the entire project had become useless. We request the government to take expert advice and see that the damages were repaired before the next flood season, so that farmers under the project command area can get water for the next Kharif season,” the BRS leader said.

He pointed out that such damages had occurred even in other projects in the past. “The Kadem project and Gundlavagu project built by the Congress governments in the past were washed away twice. There were water leakages even in bigger projects like Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam. But we never played politics over these damages,” he said. Harish Rao alleged that the Congress government was more interested in exploiting the minor damages to Kaleshwaram project for its petty political gains, rather than repairing the same.

He demanded that the state government should call for an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and the BRS would make appropriate suggestions on the same. “The Kaleshwaram project had provided irrigation facilities to lakhs of acres and also resulted in the increase of groundwater level. Because of the project, the cropping area also increased substantially,” he said. The former minister said the government could take action against the engineers and other officials responsible for the damages to Medigadda project, but should not put the farmers to troubles.

Meanwhile, state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy announced on Friday that the Congress government would take criminal action against those responsible for the damages caused to Medigadda and other barrages based on the report submitted by the vigilance department.

Stating that the government had kept the bills to be cleared to the contractors of Medigadda barrage pending, Reddy said the government was expecting a report on the damages caused to Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) within a month.

“Based on this report, we will undertake repairs and ensure water supply to farmers,” he said, adding that he was planning to go to Delhi on Saturday to meet with experts and officials to discuss the Medigadda situation.

The minister said the BRS leaders who had gone to Medigadda should see the damages and apologise to the people of Telangana.