Farmers Fear Remaining Medigadda Pillars Will Sink
Local growers demand alternatives as safety concerns, design flaws raise doubts over Kaleshwaram’s future.
Adilabad: Representatives of farmers’ bodies and local growers have warned that there is no guarantee the remaining pillars of the Medigadda barrage won’t sink — even if all supports in the seventh block are dismantled and rebuilt.
In October 2023, pillars 19 and 20 in that block developed cracks and subsequently subsided. The National Dam Safety Authority’s report to the state government on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme — and sinkage at Medigadda — has left many farmers disillusioned. “The primary report by P.C. Ghose itself highlights design lapses in soil testing and geographic assessment,” said Nainala Goverdhan, convenor of the Telangana Jala Sadhana Samiti. “Water seepage at the barrage base underscores these flaws.”
Goverdhan insisted the Kaleshwaram project risks becoming “a monument without utility” and urged that a barrage on the Pranahita River be pursued as a viable alternative.
Farmer P. Ashok of Ambatipalli village added that “thousands of crores of public money” have already been wasted, and even a redesigned Medigadda may fail without improved construction standards.
Farmer Madhukar of Gundrathpalli Gram Panchayat called on the government to “explore alternatives and mitigate damage to the farming community caused by the scheme.”
