A portion of the Lakshmi (Medigadda) barrage on Godavari river on Telangana-Maharashtra border, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district[i] caved in on Oct 21 2023, Saturday night with a loud sound. The incident led to the temporary closure of the bridge of the barrage across the Godavari River that links Telangana’s Mahadevpur mandal with Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. The KLIP is the world’s largest Lift Irrigation Project, possibly the costliest, with expenses already above Rs 1 lakh crore. The Union Govt, recognising this as a major dam failure under para 8 of Schedule II of Dam Safety Act 2021, has promptly sent a team of six experts to assess the damage.
The L&T Ltd, the construction major company, has built the barrage and it has also been entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining it for five years. The Lakshmi Barrage was inaugurated in 2019. The design of the project was done by the Telangana irrigation department. The repairs would take more than a month but the exact time can be revealed only after the damage to the pillars is seen. The Medigadda barrage, which is the first barrage of the KLIP, was designed to withstand 28.25 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) of flow and in 2022 it withstood the highest recorded flood flow of 28.7 lakh cusecs.
L&T said on Saturday evening that at one of locations of Block-7 of the barrage they observed sagging of a portion after a loud noise. “Our technical expert team has already been deputed to project site to assess the abrupt cause of damages along with state authorities. L&T will take necessary action to rectify damages upon technical assessment and way forward at the earliest,” L&T general manager, business unit head (hydel and tunnel), S Suresh Kumar said[ii].
Officials attributed the issue to heavy water flow, of around 13 lakh cusecs, over the past fortnight. “Since the floodwater level at the Medigadda Barrage was recorded more than its capacity from the past two years, the pillars must have been sunk,” an official said.
KLIP engineer-in-chief N Venkateshwarlu[iii] said the heavy inflow of water had caused the 19th pillar to sink, possibly by over a feet[iv]. It resulted in cracks to pillars 20 and 21 too. The damage lead to part of the bridge to sag. On noticing the bridge sagging, KLIS authorities called experts from Chennai and New Delhi for repairs.
The damage was first noticed by motorists who immediately alerted the irrigation department officials, who in turn informed the police. It prompted the KLIP officials to open gates of the barrage to discharge around 10.7 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Meters) of water stored in it to facilitate an inspection of the pillars. Officials said the extent of the damage could be ascertained only after the entire water was released from the barrage. Emptying the reservoir may take two days.
Tirupathi Rao, an executive engineer of the irrigation department[v], said that pillars 15 to 20, from sixth to eighth blocks of the barrage had sunk, with sounds also emanating from the gates at those blocks. He said: “Since it is very dark and there is water in the barrage, it is not possible to estimate the extent of damage, which gates were damaged and at what level the danger would be. After inspecting the barrage in the morning, officials can estimate the situation and also decide on steps to prevent further damage.”
A case registered by the Telangana police against a compliant by one of the employees at the barrage on Oct 22, 2023 says he heard the sound that accompanied the sinking of pillars at 18.20 hours on Oct 21 2023.
The police did not allow a Tehsildar from Maharashtra side to go to pillars. Suraj Dudiwar of Sironcha said the Kaleshwaram irrigation authorities always open gates on Maharashtra side and release water towards Sironcha, which may have damaged pillars on this side. “Excess backwater has swept away substantial farm land in downstream villages,” said Dudiwar. Even on Oct 21 at 6 pm, it is alleged, the water was released on Maharashtra side. Tehsildar Shiktode said they have alerted 12 villages downstream of the barrage, and are conducting surveys to assess damage as there were reports of livestock, electrical equipment and others material getting swept away when the pillars sank and water was released from the barrage, leading to rise in level of Godavari river. Shiktode added water did not enter the fields or colonies but reached close to the villages.
The Project The 1.632 km long barrage (800 4’37” E, 180 42’48”N) at FRL (Full Reservoir Level) of 100 m has 86 pillars and its storage capacity is 16.17 TMC. It has 85 gates weighing over 215 tonnes each. The Lakshmi Barrage, in conjunction with the Lakshmi Pump House, is responsible for the water-lifting operation from this point. Moving upstream along the Godavari River, the Saraswati Barrage is the second structure, and the Saraswati Pump House is tasked with the responsibility of water lifting from this location. Subsequently, the system includes the Parvathi Pump House, which channels water to the long-standing Sripadasagar-Yellampalli Reservoir. From this reservoir, water flows to the Gayatri Pump House, located underground.[vi]
Salient features of Medigadda barrage According to the 2017 Draft EIA-EMP of the Kaleshwaram project done by the Hyderabad based EPTRI salient features of the project:
– Catchment area: 2.25 lakh sq km
– Design flood: 80 000 cumecs or 28.25 lakh cusecs
– Pond level: 100 m
– FRL above deepest foundation: 14.5 m
– Max water level: 102.4 m
– Live Storage: 757.6 MCM or 26.77 TMC
– Submergence area: 9365 Ha
– Sluice Bay length: 324 m, with 17 gates (each gate size: 15 m X 15 m)
– Spillway Bay length: 1308 m, with 68 gates (each gate size: 15 m X 14 m)
It is not clear if the dam has been constructed with these features, since one of the reports mentions the gate size as 15 m X 12 m.
National Dam Safety Team Sent The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti has sent an expert committee to conduct a probe into the damage. National Dam Safety Authority chairman Anil Jain is heading the six-member committee, which will hold a review meeting with state officials in Hyderabad. According to the order of the Ministry, pillar numbers 15 to 20 of the sixth to eighth blocks of the barrage caved in on the night of October 21 after pillar number 20 of Block 7 of the barrage had partially sunk. As per para 8 of Schedule-II of the Dam Safety Act, 2021, a committee is constituted to examine the reasons for the sinking of the piers of the barrage of the Kaleshwaram project, says the order. The portion which partially sunk is 356 meters from Maharashtra.[vii] Para 8 of the Schedule II of the DSA 2021, giving functions of the National Dam Safety Organisation (NDSO) reads: “Examine, as and when necessary, either trough its own engineers or through a panel of experts, the cause of any major dam failure, and submit its report to the National Committee.” So the NDSO recognises this event as a “major dam failure”.
Earlier, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy shot off a letter to the minister, seeking a probe into the factors that led to the sudden sinking of the barrage’s piers. The minister specifically sought an inquiry into whether foundation investigations were done and whether the “borehole samples” were taken to know how much compaction needed to be done before the project designs of this barrage were made. He also wanted the inquiry to cover whether the river cross-section studies were done at both pre- and post-monsoon times to study the upstream and downstream cross-sections and compare the model studies with ground reality. He said the piers seemed to have failed because the soil was still settling and it was not treated properly.
“This indicates that it is a fit case of foundation inspection failure. The inquiry should also cover whether the designing responsibility was given to the construction agency under the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) method or whether the designs are done by the State Irrigation Department’s CDO (Central Design Organisation), and responsibility needs to be fixed accordingly”.[viii]
Many questions The damage to this huge, recent project raises many questions. Strangely this project is not listed on Central Water Commission (CWC)’s National Register of Large Dams. The dam was designed to withstand flood of 80 000 cumecs or 28.25 lakh cusecs. However, the water flow at the time of the damage was less than half that figure and same was true for the last two weeks as per the statements of the engineers. In fact the design flood required for the project as per the Environment Impact Assessment of the project was much less at 72756 cumecs, but the project was built with design flood of 80000 cumecs. If the dam received a flood of 28.7 cusecs or 81269 cumecs in 2022, and if that is now conjectured as possible cause, what was done after the flood to check for any damages to the dam? According to reports, not contradicted by officials, the information about the sinking of pillar and sag of the bridge was given by the motorists. That raises the questions if the instrumentation at the dam are functioning, since the instruments are supposed to provide such information. Will we get convincing answers?
It is good to see that the central govt has promptly sent a team from NDSO to assess the major dam disaster at Medigadda barrage, as per para 8 of schedule II of the DSA. However, for the major disaster that happened on Oct 3-4, 2023 at Teesta 3 dam (washed away) and Teesta 5 dam (majorly damaged) among two other damaged projects in Sikkim, no such team seems to have been sent. One wonders why this discrimination.
It may also be recalled that many questions have been raised about the adequacy of the project assessments and sanctioning procedures, including by National Green Tribunal and Civil Society in Telangana and beyond, with as usual no convincing answers.
SANDRP (ht.sandrp@gmail.com)
POST SCRIPT 1. Oct 25 2023: A six-member team headed by National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) chairman Anil Jain inspected Medigadda barrage on Tuesday (Oct 24 2023). The team members checked piers 19, 20, 21 and 22 at the site and interacted with state irrigation officials, L&T engineers and the staff who were on duty on October 21 evening when the incident happened. The team is expected to consult the Central Water Commission and take its opinion as well. The team will again interact with irrigation officials on the barrage design and other issues on Wednesday. The team will submit a report to the jal shakti ministry in a couple of days, official sources said.
– “We have deputed chief engineer (designs) and engineer-in-chief of Ramagundam circle to monitor the situation. Around 22,500 cusecs of water is being released to the downstream by lifting 57 gates out of total 85 gates of Medigadda (Laxmipur) barrage,” Telangana special chief secretary (irrigation) Rajat Kumar said. “Since the project is under defect liability period, L&T will do the repair work with its expenses. I have spoken with chairman of L&T and their teams are also working on the reasons for the sinking of piers and repairs,” he added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/dam-safety-team-examines-medigadda-barrage-piers/articleshow/104685033.cms
2. Oct 25 2023. According this Deccan Chronicle report, it is design fault that is the reason behind the sinking of pillars of Medigadda barrage on Goadvari river in Telangana. The design did not factor in the shifting of sands from below the foundation of the barrage. The barrage may be of no use for several years as per this report, until this is rectified with fresh foundation work, if at all that is possible.
– A possible design fault that did not factor in the shifting of sand from under the foundations of the Lakshmi barrage at Medigadda on the Godavari river is believed to be the primary cause for the subsidence of one of the seven blocks of the barrage, making the structure useless with respect to the storage of water. For all practical purposes, Medigadda Barrage for the next few years would be a structure without a Barrage use as it can no longer hold any water – let alone the 16 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) it is supposed to store. “What we are seeing is a barrage which can no longer serve the purpose it was designed and built for,” authoritative sources said. This was also corroborated by the irrigation department which said until the actual problem is identified – which could take a while – and rectification is done, if at all that is possible, the barrage will no longer be able to store any water.
– “The barrage is built in blocks, and only one of the seven blocks is affected. In a worst-case scenario, the block may have to be rebuilt from the ground up. The rest of the structure is safe,” the sources maintained. This raises even more uncomfortable questions about the design and approvals by the irrigation department of the construction process. It could have been the flood last year when 28.7 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Pranahita and Godavari buffeted the barrage which was designed to withstand 28.25 lakh cusecs of flow. It was this flood and the backwash from it that also submerged the Lakshmi pump house near the same barrage, raising questions about the project’s safety.
3. Oct 26 2023: Cracks, which appeared on the two pillars of the seventh block (19 and 20) of the Medigadda barrage, have spread to four more pillars (15 to 18) in the sixth to eighth blocks on Wednesday (Oct 25 2023). According to sources, the pillars sank 7.5 feet deep in five days — five feet deep on Saturday, another one and a half feet by Tuesday and one more foot by Wednesday evening — spreading structural damage to six pillars from 15 to 20 of the seventh block of the barrage. As the damage was spreading each day with the structure and deck parts of the pillars getting separated, especially that of the 20th pillar, the officials installed iron rods as support to prevent the pillar from totally collapsing. The expert team from National Dam Safety Authority led by chairman Anil Jain on Tuesday inspected the damage for around two hours and collected the samples of the pillar walls that were damaged.
– The villagers of the Laxmipuram said that at the time of construction of the barrage, the officials faced a lot of problems in laying the pillars of the fourth block as they did not get the proper depth of the sand present in the water. “When the officials started constructing the remaining blocks, they were informed that the foundation for the construction of pillars in the remaining blocks also must be done after a proper estimation and soil testing like that of the fourth block,” the villagers claimed. “We also warned the officials saying that from the past several years onwards they were noticing that the depth of the soil varies from season to season as we go deep from Maharashtra to Telangana. But the officials focused only on how to overcome the problems they faced initially at the time of construction without thinking of the future problems. The curing of the pillars was also not done properly,” they said. As the state government wanted the project to be completed as early as possible, the villagers claim the officials did not cure the pillars properly which might have led to the current damage to the barrage.
https://www.en.etemaaddaily.com/world/hyderabad/medigadda-pillar-cracks-spread-wider:141011
4. Oct 26 2023: To carry out repairs at Medigadda (Laxmi barrage) the Telangana government has decided to construct a cofferdam to divert water from the affected structure after approval from National Dam Safety Authority. L&T officials will take up repairs to the barrage.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/lt-to-repair-damaged-medigadda-barrage/articleshow/104712855.cms
5. Oct 27 2023: Irrigation experts, who came to know of building Medigadda barrage on rafter foundation apparently without following adequate safety norms, are of the strong view that the storage capacity should have been less than the present 16 TMC of water. The experts also expressed doubts on whether the thickness of rafter foundation, that too if built without pile foundation, is sufficient to withstand the higher storage. “Barrages are usually used as diversion structures and even if it is used for storage the capacity would not be more than 5 TMC,” a former Engineer-in-Chief said. “If they want to have a higher storage capacity they should have taken more precautions,” he said.
– Central Water Commission officials were also believed to have questioned the location of the barrage at the present site and inquired if rock surface was not available in the near vicinity. Sources said a lot of precautions were taken in Polavaram though it was being built entirely on rock surface. The officials carried out 25 metres of jet grouting as extra precaution and it seems they did not take up any such exercise in Medigadda or the two other barrages at Annaram and Sundilla. The construction giant L&T took a lot of pride in completing the structure in a record time of one year but the irrigation experts suspect that building the structure in a hurried manner led to the damage. In Polavaram, sources said, it took one year to carry out soil testing, grouting and preparing bed to build the structure on it and on the contrary the entire Medigadda barrage was built in one year.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/271023/barrages-needed-more-safeguards-say-experts.html
5. Oct 27 2023: Speaking to reporters after meeting the NDSA team, engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar said that foundation undermining could be the reason for the damages to the piers. “There are 11 piers in the seventh block of Medigadda barrage. The central pillar was damaged and its impact was felt on the piers located on either side of the central pier,” the ENC said. Official sources said that ‘floating foundation’ method is used for the construction of barrages. Damages caused to the piers of the Medigadda barrage were ‘bound to happen’ at all floating foundations. The sand near the foundation was disturbed and washed away, creating a hollow leading to the sinking of the piers, the officials said. The officials would now inspect the remaining piers, geology and soil and other aspects, once the floods receded. The NDSA team sought more information on the foundation and other aspects, which would be sent to them soon. Later, the NDSA team would submit a report to the Central Water Commission (CWC).
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2023/oct/26/irrigation-officials-foundation-undermining-damaged-piers-ofmedigadda-barrage-2627106.html
6. Oct 27 2023: Mobilization of men and machinery commenced on Thursday (Oct 26 2023) for construction of a ring-bund covering the sagging part of the Medigadda barrage, according to project officials. A team of engineers tasked with the implementation of the project rehabilitation also reached the site. As part of the physical examination of the impacted structure taken up by the expert team, eleven of its piers were inspected and the condition of only two of them – pier no 19 and 20 was found to be critical. Both of them had gone down by 0.7 metres to 0.8 meters and it had cascading effect on the adjoining segments of the barrage, Project Engineer-in-chief N Venkateswarlu.
https://telanganatoday.com/medigadda-barrage-rehabilitation-mobilisation-of-men-machinery-commences
7. Oct 27 2023: Contrary to the claims, the task of refurbishing the hobbled barrage would be much tougher than being made out to be. Incidentally, it was learnt that the barrage was not insured either during the construction phase or later against any damages. Experts in geological studies have raised questions if any hydrological modelling to figure out water flows during expected floods, or during normal times and the impact of such flows on the sand bed of the river were conducted. For instance when Sripada Yellampalli dam and reservoir was built, the Geological Survey of India, and NGRI conducted studies and to the best of available information at this point of time, no such work was done either for Medigadda, or the barrages at Annaram and Sundilla, an expert on the subject said.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/261023/repair-of-barrage-will-be-costly-and-time-consuming-say-experts.html
8. Oct 27 2023: In gross violation of norms, contractors of the Medigadda barrage construction were said to have dumped the sand excavated during project construction within the river at a short distance from the dam site, though rules mandated them moving the excavated sand out of the river and dumping it on the ground. According to a report of the Central Water Commission, an unprecedented submersion of agricultural lands and residential areas in the combined Warangal and Karimnagar districts in 2022 floods was due to the increased bed level of river and reverse flow of flood water into canals and drains. According to highly placed sources in CWC, proper disposal of the muck disposal did not happen at any of the three barrages. (IF CWC KNEW ABOUT THIS, WHAT DID IT DO ABOUT IT?)
– The CWC sent a report to Telangana government explaining the reasons for the 2022 submersion which also highlighted the havoc being played by the sand miners. The ramps for sand collection were causing hindrance to the free flow of water, it said adding that the ramps are also causing a way for flow of silt into rivers. Sources said state officials offered an explanation that the foundation waste was expected to get washed away but the same did not happen. The rainwater collected through tributaries, streams, canals and drains normally flows into rivers and makes their way into sea. However, in the catchment areas of these three barrages, the source in CWC said, the river bed level increased due to siltation and there was a reverse flow leading to submersion.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/271023/lapses-in-sand-disposal-at-klis-blamed.html
9. Oct 27 2023: The Telangana govt has set a 45-day deadline for completing the civil works to be taken up as part of the Medigadda (Lakshmi) Barrage rehabilitation programme. Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar had a high level review with project officials and representatives of L&T, the implementation agency on Oct 27 2023. He wanted the civil works on the segments impacted due to sinking of piers to be taken up on war footing and completed within one and a half months. Thereafter, the re-erection of the affected gates would take one month, according to Engineer-in-Chief of the Project N Venkateswarlu. Sagging of piers at Medigadda was not an isolated case. The implementation agencies of Sunkesula barrage and Dowleshwaram barrage also had similar experiences in varied magnitudes in the past, he said.
https://telanganatoday.com/telangana-action-plan-ready-for-medigadda-rehabilitation
10. Oct 28 2023: The recent incident of sinking and drift of 6 out of 11 piers in the Block-7 of Medigadda (Laxmi) Barrage of the prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) has forced the authorities of Irrigation department to plan for a detailed investigation of the foundation of all the 8 Blocks with a total of 85 gates as a “measure/purpose of safety”.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/sinking-of-medigadda-piers-forces-irrigation-department-to-examine-entire-barrage-foundation/article67469885.ece
11. Oct 28 2023: The Irrigation officials found that all six piers (No 16 to 21) of the seventh block of Medigadda barrage were damaged. The investigation in the incident is still going on. The barrage has a total of eight blocks. However, the damage did not impact any the other piers in other blocks, as they used the ‘monolithic design’ for the barrage. Dam Safety Panel officials AB Pandey and others will visit the barrage on Saturday (Oct 28) for further investigation. The restoration works of the damaged piers would begin only after the investigation was completed, the officials said.
– Irrigation special chief secretary Rajat Kumar held a review meeting with officials at Jala Soudha on Friday on the Medigadda barrage. “We had a complete review. The contracting agency L&T will take on the restoration works on their own after consulting with the Central Dam Safety Organisation of Telangana,” Rajat Kumar told TNIE after the meeting. He said that the officials would initially construct a cofferdam and later take up the restoration works of the damaged piers. Unlike in the construction of dams, permeable foundation would be used in the construction of all barrages. Thus, sinking of piers do happen, the officials said.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2023/oct/28/6-piers-of-medigadda-barrage-damaged-investigation-on-2627742.html
12. Oct 28 2023: The high-power committee of NDSA inspected the barrage and sought data from the state government, which was supposed to have been handed over to the team before its departure on 26 October, it was withheld. In a strongly worded letter to the State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO) and the Telangana Irrigation Department, NDSA Director (Gates Design NW&S) Rahul Kumar Singh directed that the data that the team had sought should be sent within two days. He also said that non-submission of the information by 29 October would be construed to mean that the project authorities do not have the information, and the committee would proceed accordingly.
– The NDSA listed out the data related to several aspects of the Medigadda barrage which had not been furnished yet. They are:
- Instrumentation data of barrage — piezometer, stress cells, etc — to date,
- Details of all distress conditions observed in the barrage to date, and relevant drawings of the barrage (provided partially),
- Relevant sectional drawings of the structure showing settlement,
- Relevant sectional drawings of structure showing geological profiles,
- Since the barrage has been added as a specified dam, NDSA-related information may be supplied, such as pre and post-monsoon inspection reports
- Foundation improvement works, if any,
- Quality control reports,
- Third-party monitoring reports, if any,
- Details on pre-monsoon and post-monsoon cross-section soundings upstream and downstream since the commissioning of the barrage, along with actual retrogression,
- Relevant clauses of the contract agreement regarding the defect-liability period
- Completion reports of each block, consisting of all components
- Photos of bearing conditions both upstream and downstream,
- Mapping of all cracks in all settled piers,
- Drawings showing transverse secant pile cut-off under the double pier and the detailing of joining top of the files with the peir,
- Condition of all gates in block no 7, and
- Condition of stop-log grooves in block no 7.
– a major part of the information is yet to be handed over to the NDSA authorities. These include the geological and geotechnical details of foundation strata, especially where settlement has taken place. Categorised, they are:
1. Borehold log details, SPT results, and plate load test results,
2. Design calculations of barrage, hydraulic (surface and subsurface) and stability like safe exit gradient calculation, and maximum and minimum stress under raft for various design conditions, and
3. A physical model study report.
https://thesouthfirst.com/telangana/telangana-government-appears-to-be-evading-furnishing-medigadda-barrage-information-to-ndsa/
13. Oct 29 2023: “Out of 20 queries, details on only four items were provided,” Rahul Kumar Singh, director (gates design NW&S), NDSA, which comes under the ambit of the Jal Shakti ministry, said in his letter. The NDSA officials said they were yet to get data on the condition of all seven gates in block 7, instrumentation data of the barrage, including piezometer and stress cells, details of all distress conditions observed in the barrage so far, mapping of all cracks in all settled piers, quality control reports, relevant clauses of the contract agreement regarding defects liability period, completion reports of each block consisting of all components, relevant sectional drawings of structure showing settlement, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspection reports and foundation improvement reports.
– Confirming that they were in receipt of the NDSA letter, Additional Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar said since the committee visited the site and took stock of the situation, it could proceed with its analysis and findings. Rajat Kumar said: “Committee members should have taken the pictures of bearings at the barrage, both upstream and downstream, during their visit and not waiting for us to provide. Also, certain data takes time to prepare.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/`centre-state-govt-head-for-showdown-over-medigadda-pier-mishap/articleshow/104791276.cms
14. Oct 30 2023: The State Dam Safety Authority has already furnished the required information on three items. Detailed information was provided in respect of 15 more aspects in the day. Information on two more safety related issues would be furnished shortly, according to irrigation officials.
https://telanganatoday.com/ndsa-given-information-sought-on-medigadda-barrage
15. Oct 30 2023: After a few pillars of Medigadda barrage sunk recently due to heavy flow in Godavari river, about 25,000 people from some 25 villages located on the banks of the river in Sironcha taluka of Gadchiroli district have once again raised their voice against Telangana’s controversial Kaleshwaram Lift irrigation scheme. The villagers, who regularly lose their chilli and cotton crops to floods caused due to the barrage, say their ancestral land has turned barren because of the project.
– Suraj Dudiwar, a local activist said the top soil in about 800 hectares of land along the Godavari river has been swept away. “There were some direct purchases of lands by the Telangana and Maharashtra governments and compensation was paid to farmers, but a long-term solution is required,” he said, demanding the status of ‘project affected people’.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/medigadda-row-sironcha-farmers-rue-loss-of-crops/articleshow/104810499.cms
16. Nov 2 2023: Less than two weeks since six pillars of the Medigadda (Lakshmi) barrage were reported to be damaged, water seepage at the Annaram (Saraswati) barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) came to light on Wednesday (Nov 1 2023). According to sources, water has been seeping out of gates 28 and 38 of the barrage, one of the three such structures built as part of KLIS, in Mahadevpur mandal of the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. KLIS Eng in Chief N Venkateshwarlu asserted that there was no damage to the pillars of the Annaram barrage and added the engineering staff had taken measures to address the seepage.
– After the seepage was reported, the barrage’s engineering staff alerted the maintenance team and took action by deploying sandbags to control the water flow. The engineering staff said this is a common occurrence during the annual maintenance activity (AMA) period and pointed out that there was no cause for alarm.
– According to KLIS officials, the engineers are performing regular maintenance work to address the seepage by placing sandbags near the 38th vent. It’s important to note that the seepage observed that freshwater is indeed coming out, but it remains within permissible limits, and no sand is being discharged. “There is no threat. Annaram barrage remains unaffected,” asserted KLIS Executive Engineer (EE) A Yadagiri.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2023/nov/02/water-seepage-at-annaram-barrage-of-klis-officials-say-it-is-a-common-occurrence-2629257.html
17. Nov 2 2023: EVEN BEFORE THE DUST SETTLES DOWN ON THE MEDIGADDA BARRAGE PIERS SINKING ISSUE, TWO MORE BARRAGES – Annaram (Saraswathi) and Sundilla (Parvathi) – came under the radar of irrigation officials with similar ‘sand erosion’ problem. Senior officials noticed water seepage at the foundation during a physical inspection of the two barrages. Initially, it was suspected that the problem was confined only to Annaram barrage, but later it was found that even Sundilla barrage has a similar issue at one location.
– Both Annaram and Sundilla barrages were constructed by Afcons Infrastructure Limited and Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd respectively. The barrages were built as part of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. Special chief secretary (irrigation) Rajat Kumar confirmed that ‘sand erosion’ was noticed at the two barrages and a team of officials led by a chief engineer was rushed to inspect them. Rajat Kumar said there was no need for water diversion as it was not a very serious problem.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/now-sand-erosion-noticed-at-annaram-sundilla-barrages/articleshow/104900665.cms
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/small-portion-of-bridge-of-lakshmi-medigadda-barrage-caves-in-sabotage-suspected/article67448670.ece
[ii] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/alarm-bells-ring-over-kaleshwaram-project-after-a-few-pillars-of-medigadda-barrage-sink/articleshow/104636872.cms
[iii] https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2023/oct/23/lt-team-arrives-in-medigadda-2626449.html
[iv] https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/pillars-sinking-incident-lt-telangana-govt-begins-probe-at-medigadda/article67449711.ece
[v] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/221023/pillars-of-lakshmi-barrage-sink-at-jayashankar-bhupalpally.html
[vi] https://www.newstap.in/telangana/despite-lakshmi-barrages-sagging-pillar-kaleshwaram-project-remains-intact-1500925
[vii] https://www.siasat.com/telangana-center-to-probe-sinking-of-kaleshwarams-laxmi-barrage-portion-2742659/
[viii] https://thesouthfirst.com/news/as-high-power-team-heads-to-medigadda-barrage-heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-its-sinking-pillars/
SANDRP 
The flow was not 28.70 l as claimed by department
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