Kaleshwaram Barrages Repair Plans Make An Important Step Forward

Previously, irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had on September 19, instructed the department officials to get going on identifying and selecting design consultants for the required repairs to the Kaleshwaram project’s barrages.

Though the opposition parties, both the BRS and the BJP have been accusing the state government of deliberately neglecting the barrages, Tuesday’s decision is expected to strengthen the government’s stand that it will take all possible measures to try and bring the barrages into safe working order. It may be recalled that serious damages to Block 7 of the Medigadda barrage were observed in October 2023, and soon after serious seepage issues at the Annaram and Sundilla barrages too came to light.

The irrigation department’s decision to call for expression of interest follows its Central Designs Organisation (CDO) making it clear that it did not have the wherewithal for preparing repair designs which if implemented, can result in rehabilitation of the three barrages and their eventual return to do the work they were meant to do, that is store water that can be pumped through a series of pump houses back to Yellampalli reservoir during the dry months.

With the current flood season expected to subside in the next two months, the department is hoping that all the required geotechnical and geophysical tests at the barrages and the river bed at the locations can be completed. Once these are done, the plan is to see if repair works can be taken up in the summer months when the flows in Godavari at Annaram and Sundilla are at the lowest, and as well as at Medigadda which also received inflows from Pranahita river that joins Godavari upstream of the Medigadda barrage.