Telangana irrigation officials urge NDSA chairman to declare NSP ownership
During the meeting, the Telangana officials said that the temporary maintenance of NSP was being carried out by them while the temporary maintenance of Srisailam Dam was being done by their Andhra Pradesh counterparts.
However, in November 2023, the government of AP deployed a huge police force on the right side of NSP, they added. Meanwhile, the NDSA chairman enquired about the steps being taken by Telangana to implement the National Dam Safety Act.
Dam break analysis
Irrigation Engineer-in-Chief G Anil Kumar informed Anil Jain that they were preparing the dam break analysis. The NDSA chairman suggested the officials prepare pre-monsoon and post-monsoon reports for every project every year. There should be a special operation and maintenance (O&M) manual for every project, he said.
Responding to this, Anil Kumar wanted the NDSA chairman to decide the owner of the NSP. He said that they were facing problems in carrying out the repairs to Nagarjunasagar and the project was in danger.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
4 days ago
- Hans India
BRS in damage control mode as Harish exposes chinks in KLIS report
Hyderabad: Senior BRS leader T Harish Rao on Tuesday said that Revanth Reddy was ruling the state only to harass their party Chief K Chandrashekar Rao and alleged that the government has released a cooked-up report without facts. The BRS leader on Tuesday made a power point presentation on 'Congress Conspiracies on Kaleshwaram Project Commission's Distortions vs Facts' at Telangana Bhavan which was shown in the district party offices to create awareness among the party leaders. Harish Rao alleged that Revanth Reddy had thrown governance to the winds and was engaging in political vendetta. He alleged that they have released a cooked-up report without facts. To get bills cleared, they are demanding 10–12 per cent commissions. The BJP and Congress were colluding to carry out this vendetta. Stating that the Polavaram project collapsed three times on Godavari River but no NDSA has gone there, but the moment a minor incident happened at Medigadda, the NDSA rushed there. 'Notices do not reach us, but leaks are given to the media beforehand. This entire commission inquiry appears to be driven by conspiracy. Once this 665-page report is tabled in the Assembly, we will corner the government. We will place the real facts before the people,' said Harish Rao, alleging that out of 665 pages, the government picked only selective points to show. This is a one-sided report based only on what they wanted to see and hear. It is a baseless report, he expressed. The BRS leader said that many commissions were set up in this country before and they do not stand in courts of law. Even in the past, several political leaders were targeted through commissions. During Congress rule, why was even a fistful of soil not laid at Thammidihatti? There was no water availability there. There is rich biodiversity, and objections came from Maharashtra. That is why no project was built at that site. Rao pointed out that through Mission Kakatiya, thousands of tanks were restored and the pending projects were transformed into running projects. They only carried bags of commissions to Delhi – did nothing else, he accused. 'When Cotton Barrage was built, a commission was set up to harass him. Yet, Cotton remains in the hearts of the Godavari people. Likewise, KCR will forever remain like a God in the hearts of Telangana people. Kaleshwaram is truly a boon – even Revanth Reddy knows this,' said Rao. If someone claims Kaleshwaram has collapsed, how can they then say water will be brought to Gandhamalla? Stating that there was no secrecy in the Kaleshwaram project and every detail was in the DPR. 'Our only aim was to provide water to farmers. Within one year, we secured all approvals for the Kaleshwaram project. Eleven central government agencies gave their clearances for the project. All the required permissions for a project were obtained. Then who is the Commission blaming now? Will the Commission blame the Centre and the agencies that gave these approvals?' questioned Rao.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Indian Express
KCR responsible for ‘irregularities, bad planning and execution' of Kaleshwaram project: Inquiry commission
A commission of inquiry into the planning and execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Telangana has held former chief minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao responsible for what it said was 'rampant procedural and financial irregularities, lack of proper planning, design flaws, construction defects and a complete absence of effective operation and maintenance'. The one-man Justice P C Ghose commission, which pointed out that the decision to construct barrages at Medigadda, Annaram and Sudilla was the 'sole and individual decision' of KCR and then irrigation minister T Harish Rao. The commission has pointed out that, violating government business rules, the initial administrative approval for the construction of the three barrages was not placed before the Cabinet. The commission said in its report that KCR ignored an expert committee recommendation of January 21, 2015, which 'rejected' the proposal to construct a barrage at Medigadda. The committee had said that the Medigadda barrage should not be constructed because of 'prohibitive cost and time consumption'. 'The expert committee report was intentionally… not considered and kept in cold storage by the then chief minister and minister for irrigation,' the report said. The report was tabled before incumbent Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's Cabinet on Monday. The P C Ghose commission was constituted after one of the pillars of the Medigadda barrage sank on October 21, 2023. This led to widespread flooding, and a team from the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) examined the sunken pillar — No 20 of block 7 — on October 25. On February 13, 2024, the Congress government in the state asked the NDSA to conduct a 'thorough inspection of the design and construction of the three barrages' of the project. According to the commission's report, the cost of the project was initially estimated to be Rs 71,436 crore. The costs went up due to a change in specification, design, drawings, and other reasons, the commission noted. This led to 'wrongful syphoning of funds from the public exchequer', the commission's report said. The scathing report further said that 'there was absolutely no operation and maintenance of whatsoever nature, including periodical checks or inspections, pre- and post monsoon inspections and reports etc, of these three barrages at any time'. The report also found design deficiencies in that the barrages that were designed as permeable foundations were 'utilised as storage structures', which is against standard practice. The barrages were also kept at full capacity throughout to lift water through pumps, even as the barrages 'were diversion structures and not storage structures'. Running the barrages at full capacity seemed to have caused the distress, the commission noted. The KCR government also issued a substantial construction completion certificate for Medigadda to the construction agency without proper checks and balances, the report said. 'The award of the certificate was wrong, illegal and tainted with malice to do undue favour to the agency,' the report read. Apart from indicting KCR, the report also said that T Harish Rao, the then minister for irrigation, 'intentionally did not consider the report of the expert committee'. It also said the then minister for finance Eatala Rajender demonstrated a 'lack of commitment and integrity in safeguarding the financial and economic health of the newly formed state'. The commission concluded that the project was characterised by 'rampant and brazen financial irregularities'.
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- The Hindu
Ghose Commission of Inquiry on Kaleshwaram row submits report
HYDERABAD The Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission of Inquiry (CoI), instituted to probe the alleged irregularities in the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), submitted its report to the government on Thursday. Justice Ghose handed over the report to Principal Secretary (Irrigation) Rahul Bojja at his office here. Mr. Bojja is likely to hand over the report to Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao. The commission was constituted by the State Government in March 2024, but started functioning from May last year. During its 15 months of inquiry, the panel had visited the three barrages physically and examined a total of 115 witnesses, including engineers, officials, bureaucrats, and elected representatives, including former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and former ministers T. Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender. Following sinking of some piers of the Medigadda Barrage and damage to the structure in the seventh block in October 2023, the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) took up a study-cum-inquiry into the damage based on an informal complaint by BJP leaders. The Congress, which came to power in December in 2023, initially ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the issue and later instituted the Commission of Inquiry after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy made an announcement in the Assembly. In its preliminary report released a few days before the polling day of Assembly elections had found fault with all aspects pertaining to the barrages – from planning to maintenance. The report faulted use of secant piles for the foundation of Medigadda Barrage instead of sheet piles as planned initially and also lack of proper geological tests before taking up the construction. Later, the NDSA submitted its interim report before the polling date of Lok Sabha elections reiterating its findings in the preliminary report and recommending some specific geological tests before taking up any remedial measures. In its final report, released in April this year the Central agency recommended reconstruction of the damaged block and other measures for the safety of the structure. The Vigilance report too found similar problems and also the negligence of engineers concerned in following due procedures in all aspects of the barrages' construction beginning from planning and recommended action against them. The commission examined the engineers who were involved in various stages of the barrages' construction and cross-examined them based on information collected from witnesses. Except for KCR's examination, which was on camera on the request of the witness, others were examined as open proceedings.
