A decision on the fate of Kaddam project soon

Record inflows received by the projects from catchment in the upstream in recent years called for strengthening further the project by attending to its vulnerable aspects.

Hyderabad: The State government is weighing various options before it for rehabilitation of the Kaddam project, one of the oldest dams meeting the irrigation and drinking water needs in its command in a big way. Record inflows received by the projects from catchment in the upstream in recent years called for strengthening further the project by attending to its vulnerable aspects.

All the structural issues pertaining to the project were already examined by the State Dam Safety Authority. A report was given by a team of engineers from the Dam Safety and Rehabilitation Project with important recommendations recently. The alternatives provided by it are under consideration. The government will take a final decision on the report very soon, Engineer in Chief Nagendar Rao said.

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In July 2022, the project received the highest inflow of about 5.09 lakh cusecs, triggering panic among the people living downstream. The project authorities had to release excess water through nine crest gates to avoid any damage to the dam. In July this year too, the project faced a similar situation when it received an inflow of about 3 lakh cusecs due to flash floods. The project officials had to alert the villagers and evacuate them to safer places. The project, however withstood nature’s fury much to the relief of the administration and the people.

The flood gates of the project were made in 1956. Nine of the 18 gates were designed with Indian technology and remaining nine were of German technology. The project construction was taken up in 1949 and completed in 1958. It was breached by a massive flood in the same year.

The reconstruction of the project taken up with increased spillway capacity and storage capacity was completed in 1969. The project irrigates an area of 27,519 hectares in Adilabad district. The reservoir is also supplemented by the Saraswathi Canal of the Sri Ram Sagar Project since 1984.