Repairs to the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme are expected to be both complex and time-consuming, requiring the demolition and reconstruction of part of the damaged Block 7 and rebuilding it. (DC)

 HYDERABAD: Repairs to the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme are expected to be both complex and time-consuming, requiring the demolition and reconstruction of part of the damaged Block 7 and rebuilding it. This is in addition to other works that include building new stilling basins, cut-off walls, and extending all 85 piers to the ends of the new stilling basins, all designed to prevent similar damage in future.

Just a week short of three years after Block 7 of the barrage subsided into the Godavari river bed on October 21, 2023, a meeting of the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) set up by the jal shakti ministry to vet the repair designs, on Wednesday, is learnt to have given an in-principle approval to the repair design concepts and sought detailed engineering drawings from the Telangana irrigation department.

The TOC met in New Delhi with irrigation engineers and officials, who had worked with the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, and Afry India, the consultant appointed by the state government to assist the department in preparing repair designs.

Regarding the damaged Block 7 – with some of its piers developing serious cracks, and the raft portion sinking into the river bed – the initial consensus, it is learnt, was that the damaged portions of Block 7 must go, and those sections will have to be rebuilt. “Though the possibility of repairing the existing structure by strengthening it was considered initially, the focus has now shifted towards veering towards a complete rebuild of the damaged sections,” sources said.

And given the nature of the work required – a complex system of cutting out the damaged sections and rebuilding them from the ground up –the TOC advised irrigation officials to discuss this issue in detail with the construction agency L&T-PES JV to explore how this part of the work can be taken forward.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the detailed engineering designs for the rest of the repair components should be ready in about a fortnight after which they will once again be studied by the TOC. “There may be some minor tweaks here and there in the end, but that is where things stand now,” the source said.

The plans discussed on Wednesday throw the repair completion timeline of the government – by June 2027, before the start of next year’s monsoon season – aside, as just the Block 7-related work alone could take a year or two, it is learnt.

Meanwhile, the repair plans for Medigadda’s sister barrages at Sundilla and Annaram, too were learnt to have been approved and their engineering designs too were sought, it is learnt. For Sundilla and Annaram, the proposed work is understood to be limited to rebuilding extended stilling basins that reduce the velocity of water flowing downstream as the water leaves the barrages, as well as strengthening the river bed under the foundations of the barrages, a step that is also required at Medigadda.

The initial back-of-the-envelope estimate for Medigadda repairs were expected to be around Rs 700 crore, but with the major rehabilitation of Block 7 now in play, the cost could rise sharply, it is learnt. In all, between the repairs to Medigadda, and those required for the Sundilla and Annaram barrages, the total cost could go up to Rs 2,500 crore or more, it is learnt.

KLIS barrages – What’s in store?

Tearing down and rebuilding part of Block 7 at Medigadda.

Extending stilling basins for Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram.

Extending 85 piers at Medigadda to the edge of stilling basins.

Strengthening riverbed soil under barrage foundations.

Two cut-off walls, one upstream and one downstream of Medigadda barrage.

Cut-off walls at Sundilla and Annaram.

June 2027 completion deadline unlikely to be met.

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