They perceived that the report had been "hastily compiled under pressure” from powers-that-be to give a political colour, while overlooking key submissions by the state.
Hyderabad: The National Dam Safety Authority’s (NDSA) findings on the Medigadda barrage‘s structural issues have drawn sharp criticism from irrigation experts and Telangana State Irrigation Department sources. They perceived that the report had been “hastily compiled under pressure” from powers-that-be to give a political colour while overlooking key submissions by the state.
Despite the state providing comprehensive data on 17 out of the 20 points requested by the NDSA, their data points were not included in the preparation of the report, sources disclosed. Information on three more points was to be submitted to the NDSA, but the final report was released in haste without waiting. “What’s their intention in hurriedly preparing and releasing the report?” they sought to know.
The release of the NDSA’s findings to the media, even before the report was sent to the department officials concerned, has raised many an eyebrow among official circles. They suspect that it was a deliberate attempt to give a political dimension to the Medigadda episode aimed at discrediting the State Government and the project.
Furthermore, officials were incredulous as the report assigned the sinking of the piers of the barrage to a multitude of causes, including planning, design, quality control, and maintenance failures.
State officials point out that the Medigadda barrage, an integral part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), was engineered by the Central Designs Organisation’s seasoned professionals, each boasting over four decades of expertise.
The barrage designs conformed to established standards set forth by the Central Water Commission (CWC), the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP), and the Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS codes. Endorsements of these designs came after rigorous consultations with CWC design experts and after a thorough study of barrage designs in Tapovan project under CWC guidance.
Not an isolated case
In many barrages constructed in India after independence, ‘Raft foundations’ were used and the codes and manuals for such foundations were released by Central organisations only. Though there were instances of sinking of piers of Farakka barrage constructed across River Ganga, Prakasam Barrage across river Krishna and Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage across river Godavari, Irrigation department officials in the united Andhra Pradesh managed to repair them successfully, they recalled.
The experts asserted that the rafts and the ‘cutoff’ walls of the barrage were built as per the Indian Standard codes (IS Codes) laid down for civil engineering. Picking up holes in the barrage’s designs would amount to finding fault with the design manuals and codes issued by the central organisations themselves.
They stressed that the raft foundation model was opted for in several of the barrages built in the post-independence era and all the design codes and manuals are issued only by the Central Organisations.
Responding to the quality aspects pointed out by the NDSA, the barrage was built by the L&T which was known for the quality and standards in the works executed by it. The project was implemented by the organisation under the supervision of engineering experts.
Moreover, the Kaleshwaram Project report was prepared by the WAPCOS, a central government organisation and the final approval was given for it by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Ministry of Jal Shakti which fully ascertained the accuracy of all key aspects pertaining to hydrology, irrigation planning, estimates, designs and the inter-state issues involved.
Many of the CWC officials including the commission chairman had visited the project site when the works were being executed and the way all of them lauded the implementation of the project was still fresh in the memory of the people, it was pointed out. The construction of barrage was taken up without any compromise on safety issues and a special quality control unit was working round the clock and registered their findings. Their observations were submitted to the NDSA,” but th team in its report noted that these observations were not submitted to them, which is very unfortunate.
The official of the NDSA also felt that the sagging of piers could be because of the changes that occurred in the soils of the riverbed beneath the barrage structure. “Neither the government nor the engineers concerned would desire such things to occur and it is unfortunate”, they argued.
Sources maintained that they were disappointed to see no remedial measures being suggested by the NDSA. Their report had only “indicated that the NDSA was also working like other central agencies to protect the interests of Central Government”. They also argued that the NDSA report had only tried to throw blame on the State government rather than suggesting remedial measures.
Irrigation department officials have maintained that they would come up with a detailed response from the State Government on the issue after closely studying the report and requesting the NDSA to come up with constructive solutions to repair the barrage. They were confident that the government would successfully repair the barrage, as it did in case of the flooding of the pump houses.
It was also pointed out that the NDSA had only suggested that water should not be stored till repairs were carried out and their report never spoke of barrage being rendered useless, as reported in a section of media.