Late by a month for any work on Medigadda: Irrigation officials

They maintained that the department could have completed that task also by now as suggested with minimum hydraulic force.

Hyderabad: The Irrigation Department will soon take up the task of implementing the recommendations made by the NDSA, officials said, making it clear that the interim measures were intended to maintain status quo and prevent further structural distress in three barrages of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) before the onset of monsoon.

“We are in fact late by one month to take up even temporary measures aimed at addressing issues that are likely to make the structures further vulnerable in the event of heavy floods,” they felt, adding that the focus of the department was mainly on the Medigadda barrage.

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The works would commence at the earliest after getting the ‘go ahead’ from the government, they said. The Irrigation department had already lifted the gates of the Medigadda barrage barring the ones in Block-7 that were impacted with the sagging of the three piers.

They maintained that the department could have completed that task also by now as suggested with minimum hydraulic force.

“The NDSA team which visited the barrage as part of its investigation wanted us not to interfere with operation of Block -7 gates and hence the department stood away so far,” they said, pointing out that limited working time was left before the onset of monsoon, which would be made use of prioritizing the works recommended by the NDSA.

The NDSA team wanted the radial gates adjacent to Pier No 20 and 21, that suffered maximum damage to be removed completely by dismantling.

Removal of downstream cement-concrete blocks and compacting the riverbed has also been suggested and it can be completed without difficulty before the barrages receives the first flood flow of the year, they asserted.