Manair river check dam damage stirs political row in Karimnagar

A suspected blast that damaged a check dam on the Manair river in Jammikunta has sparked intense political exchanges between the Congress and the BRS. Irrigation officials suspect foul play, and the opposition has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident

Karimnagar: The alleged blast of the check dam on the Manair river near Thanugula in Jammikunta mandal has placed the ruling Congress party in a difficult position ahead of the gram panchayat elections, with the incident triggering sharp political exchanges.

While farmers from a few nearby villages may directly suffer due to the damage, the issue is expected to influence the wider farming community across the State in the upcoming polls. With no clarity yet on whether the structure was deliberately damaged or washed away by water flow, the development has ignited a heated war of words between the ruling Congress and the opposition BRS.

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Congress leaders maintained that the check dam collapsed due to heavy water flow, but the BRS countered this by alleging that the sand mafia, backed by the ruling party, blasted the structure with explosives to clear the route for illegal sand transportation.

A complaint lodged by Irrigation department officials with the Jammikunta police appears to support the BRS stance. In the complaint, officials expressed doubts over the sudden overnight damage to the check dam, noting that it had withstood significant water flow during the recent Cyclone Montha. They said leakages typically appear two to three days before any major damage and added that if a structural failure had begun at the bottom, whirlpools would have formed on the surface.

However, neither leakages nor whirlpools were noticed by locals even a day before the incident, Deputy Executive Engineer P Ravi of the Kalvasrirampur sub-division told Telangana Today. Farmers, fishermen and villagers frequently visit the site, yet none of them observed any warning signs. Their suspicion that the structure was intentionally damaged prompted the complaint to the police, he said.

Terming the issue serious, the BRS demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Opposition MLAs Gangula Kamalakar and Padi Kaushik Reddy submitted a representation to the Collector and said they would continue their protest until those responsible were arrested.

The check dam was designed to benefit around 4,000 to 5,000 acres across Gumpula, Thanugula and Shambunipally by improving groundwater levels in the surrounding areas. With the structure now damaged, groundwater recharge is expected to be affected and at least 4,000 acres of agricultural land are unlikely to receive water in the next season.