New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): Telangana State Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy held a meeting on Saturday with officials from the National Dam Safety Authority under the chairmanship of the NDSA chairman. The key meeting was held regarding various issues related to the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages here in the national capital.
After the meeting, the minister addressed the media at Telangana Bhavan in Delhi, stating, “We had a detailed discussion for about two and a half hours with the dam safety officials regarding the tests conducted so far, the works done, and the future actions to be taken for the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages. No new irrigation area has been created with the Kaleshwaram Project.”
He further mentioned that the previous government constructed the barrages without conducting any tests and that no barrage has the capacity to store more than 3-4 TMC of water. However, the Medigadda barrage was designed to store a total of 16.1 TMC, with 5 TMC allocated for dead storage, which is not appropriate. The Annaram project has significant seepage, and there are also flaws in the Sundilla barrage, as pointed out by the dam safety authority.
Over the past five years, approximately 65 TMC of water has been pumped, averaging only 13 TMC per year. If the project had been constructed near Tummidi Hatti, the electricity expenses would have been significantly reduced. Currently, about Rs 10,000 crores are spent annually on electricity charges. Including interest, an additional Rs 10,000 crore is spent on electricity expenses. Our government is committed to constructing the project near Tummidi Hatti, ensuring the Kaleshwaram project remains as it is, and modifying it to bring water through gravity.
The repair works is being carried out by the contractors who were originally responsible for the construction. The government has not incurred any expenses for these repairs. The repair works was assigned to them as per the suggestions of the National Dam Safety Authority. The dam safety authority has formally recommended lifting the gates of the three barrages and releasing the water downstream, and this work is currently in progress. We have implemented most of the NDSA’s recommendations and will continue to act based on the suggestions of the technical experts’ committee.
“There will be another meeting of the officials on Monday. Our government’s goal is to bring the Kaleshwaram Project into full utilisation as soon as possible,” the minister stated.
Along with the minister, State Irrigation Department Advisor Aditya Nath Das, Irrigation Department Secretary Rahul Bojja, Special Secretary Prashant Jeevan Patil, Telangana Bhavan Resident Commissioner Dr. Gaurav Uppal, Irrigation Department Engineer-in-Chief Nagender Rao, Kaleshwaram Chief Engineer Sudhakar Reddy, and other expert committee members participated in the meeting, along with NDSA Chairman Anil Jain and former Central Water Commission Chairman J. Chandrasekhar Iyer. (ANI)
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