KTR questions shifting stances of BJP, Congress and NDSA on Polavaram and Medigadda barrage issues
BRS working president KT Rama Rao questioned political double standards over dam safety, criticising silence on Polavaram’s second cofferdam collapse while Kaleshwaram faced intense scrutiny. He urged NDSA, Congress, and BJP to act consistently on national and Telangana projects
Published Date - 16 August 2025, 06:12 PM
Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday questioned the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), Congress and BJP for their contrasting responses to issues with the Polavaram in Andhra and Kaleshwaram project in Telangana. He pointed out that the Polavaram cofferdam, built by the NDA government by giving it national project status, collapsed for the second time, yet the NDSA has remained silent.
Rama Rao also questioned why Congress and BJP leaders, who mocked the Kaleshwaram project as “Kooleshwaram” after cracks appeared in two pillars of the Medigadda Barrage, have not similarly criticised the Polavaram project as “Koolavaram.” He highlighted the double standards applied to the Kaleshwaram project, which he described as a boon for Telangana, compared to the Polavaram project.
He noted that during the Assembly elections, when the Medigadda pillars reportedly sank under suspicious circumstances, BJP leaders promptly sent the NDSA to blame the BRS regime. Rao questioned their silence after the second collapse of the Polavaram cofferdam, which had a 10-foot-wide and 7-8-foot-deep breach that is being quietly repaired in Andhra Pradesh.
In contrast, he pointed out that no repair work has been done at the Medigadda Barrage in Telangana for 20 months, attributing this to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s inaction.
Taking to X, Rama Rao also mentioned the 2020 collapse of the Polavaram diaphragm wall and the recent collapse of the SLBC tunnel in Telangana, which resulted in eight deaths, stating that the NDSA had not responded to these incidents either.