A day after an expert committee report faulting the design and construction of the Medigadda barrage for the recent sinking of its piers became public, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Telangana visited the site on Saturday, November 4. The Medigadda barrage in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district is part of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government’s prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. The barrage has eight blocks, and piers 16 to 21 of the seventh block had sunk on October 21 due to damage. BJP MP and Telangana party chief G Kishan Reddy visited the site and spoke about the expert committee report by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), which said the piers sank due to issues involving “planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance (O&M).”

“Kaleshwaram was touted to be the world’s biggest lift irrigation project. Loans worth Rs 1 lakh crore were taken while promising benefits for people of Telangana. Such a project is sinking now, there are cracks in pillars, the road over the bridge is sunken. The future of the project appears dark, this is pathetic,” Kishan Reddy said. He also faulted the BRS government for failing to adequately provide the data points sought by the expert committee for their analysis of the reasons behind the piers sinking. 

Kishan Reddy further highlighted the expert committee’s remark that considering the commonalities, it was possible for other blocks of the Medigadda barrage to also witness similar damage. He also spoke about the water seepage reported at the Annaram (Saraswati) barrage and questioned the quality of construction, demanding a detailed probe into the Kaleshwaram project. BJP MLAs Eatala Rajender and Raghunandan Rao accompanied Kishan Reddy on the visit. 

Read: Kaleshwaram: Dam safety team finds faults in Medigadda barrage, warns of more damage

Two days ago, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and state Congress chief Revanth Reddy too had visited the Medigadda barrage, seemingly making it the party’s primary poll plank. He alleged that Rs 1 lakh crore was looted from the people of Telangana through the Kaleshwaram project, claiming that no one has benefited from it. “Kaleshwaram is the ATM of KCR and his family. People of Telangana will have to deposit Rs 31,000 crore every year in this ATM for the maintenance of the project,” he said, taking a jibe at Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS.

Read: Rahul Gandhi launches ‘Kaleshwaram ATM’, making irrigation project Congress’s poll plank