NDSA team to visit Srisailam Dam to reassess project safety on May 18

The NDSA team visited both Naragurjuna Sagar and the Srisailam projects in February this year to conduct safety inspection of the project structures.

Hyderabad: A team of the National Dam Safety Authority will be revisiting the Srisailam project on May 18 as part of a stock taking exercise. The team which is likely to have experts from the Central Water Commission (CWC) will assess the safety aspects of the dam ahead of the onset of monsoon.

The NDSA, according to sources, was not happy with the maintenance of the project for quite some time.

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The NDSA team visited both Naragurjuna Sagar and the Srisailam projects in February this year to conduct safety inspection of the project structures.

Responding to its report, the State government of Telangana stepped up the pace of maintenance works even as its officials had to face hurdles in gaining access to the project site following the deployment of CRPF after the Andhra Pradesh bid to take control of half of the dam gates on its end.

The works taken up on the dame are nearing completion. So far as the Srisailam project was concerned, no significant headway could be made in respect of its repairs barring a few exceptions.

The NDSA team wanted the Irrigation department of AP to take certain precautions and initiate special measures to ensure total safety in the operations pertaining to the radial gates, water pumping facilities and the plunge pool located at the outlet of the spillway.

The project authorities had proposed works accordingly with an outlay of Rs 135 crore. The 60-year-old Srisailam dam is a joint project of both AP and Telangana and it was in need of a major rehabilitation initiative, said officials.

The NDSA which proved to be prompt in responding to the structural issues noticed in Medigadda barrage on Godavari involving the State government of Telangana, lacked a serious approach so far as the maintenance of Srisailam project on which AP continues its operational control.

The NDSA was yet to respond on the Annamayya project that was partially washed away in Kadapa district and the Polavaram project diaphragm wall left damaged in flood couple of years ago.

The NDSA cannot treat the states of Telangana and AP with two different yardsticks in getting the repairs completed on the joint projects, pointed out officials of TS Irrigation Department.