Medigadda barrage endures six flood seasons; No issues with 84 of 86 piers

The Medigadda barrage, a key asset of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, has weathered yet another intense flood season in 2025, handling over 9 lakh cusecs of Godavari flow. While repairs to Block 7 remain pending since a 2023 pier subsidence incident, the barrage’s independent block design and reinforced foundations have ensured operational stability.

Hyderabad: The Medigadda barrage, an important component of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, continued to demonstrate its resilience, managing over 9 lakh cusecs of the Godavari River flow on Friday during its sixth flood season. Despite delays in repairing a localized issue for the past 20 months, the 1.632 km-long barrage, built in 2019, has remained operational, supporting irrigation and water supply until October 2023.

Designed to handle 28.25 lakh cusecs, the barrage withstood a record 28.70 lakh cusecs in July 2022 and subsequent floods in 2023, 2024, and now 2025. Its ‘independent block design’ contained a 2023 incident- where piers 19 and 20 in Block 7 sank slightly under low-flow conditions while discharging 14,880 cusecs – preventing systemic failure. The remaining 84 of its 86 piers across eight blocks stayed intact. They would have supported the barrage to function effectively through the 2024-2025 agricultural season had the government opted to supply water to its full ayacut of over 18 lakh acres.

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Its structural soundness was confirmed by post-monsoon assessments in 2024, according to a retired irrigation engineer with 20 years of experience addressing structural issues in irrigation projects.

The 2023 incident, attributed to localized foundation issues such as potential piping, prompted calls for immediate action from state authorities and the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA). However, delays in repairs, primarily due to seasonal water inflows and pending NDSA reports, slowed progress.

The retired engineer noted that timely completion of the NDSA’s initial structural assessments could have expedited rehabilitation. Despite these setbacks, the barrage’s robust design ensured stability, handling current floodwaters with all 85 gates operational. By early 2025, the government and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) intensified efforts, conducting geotechnical investigations, including core drilling and geophysical studies by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS).

A cofferdam has enabled dry-site repairs. Permanent rehabilitation of Block 7 is awaited under L&T’s five-year maintenance warranty. The works are expected to commence pos- monsoon season. CWPRS experts have praised the barrage’s reinforced secant pile foundations, equivalent in scale to multiple ‘Burj Khalifas’.

Despite claims of structural failure by Congress leaders and a March 2025 Vigilance Commission report urging action against L&T, the barrage’s performance across six flood seasons disproved concerns of systemic failures. With full restoration works expected to commence by late 2025, Medigadda remains the only hope for Telangana’s water security, proving its engineering mettle, the engineer stressed.