Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday directed officials concerned to immediately write to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) and the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), seeking “clear technical guidance on the future operation of the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS)”.
Chairing a high-level review with senior Irrigation Department officials, engineers, and technical experts at the Dr B R Ambedkar Secretariat here, the Minister made it clear that the Telangana government maintained the barrages in free-flow condition as advised by NDSA to address safety challenges.
Written advice by any competent technical authority will be mandatory to decide whether storage and pumping operations could be safely resumed, he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy instructed officials to attach the relevant portions of the NDSA report, previous technical observations and supporting documents in the written note to the Centre and NDSA so that the entire technical basis for the government's decision was placed on record.
"The correspondence with the Ministry of Jal Shakti should clearly explain why the barrages have not been used for storage or pumping and seek a formal opinion from the competent technical authorities," he said.
On ongoing studies, Uttam Kumar Reddy was informed that the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) was in the final stages of analysing the latest GPR data and other technical inputs.
Water cannot be impounded at the present stage in Annaram barrage also as certain issues indicating cavities have surfaced in the raft foundation, said the officials.
Based on the available investigations, officials informed the Minister that a rehabilitation concept design for the Medigadda Barrage would be prepared by the end of August.
A preliminary estimate of the rehabilitation cost would be ready by mid-September.
Officials informed him that presently the Detailed Project Report (DPR) could not be processed because issues relating to water allocations and tribunal proceedings remained unresolved.
