Letter to L&T Opens a Can of Worms for Irrigation Department

Hyderabad: The near declaration of an intent to enter into a war with L&T PES-JV by the Telangana government over the alleged reluctance of the company to join hands with the state government on repairs to the Medigadda barrage could further embroil the already vexed issue of the reaching the final goal of the barrage’s rehabilitation.

The threats and warnings issued by the government in a letter to the company that the company is responsible for all repairs and rehabilitation of the barrage at its cost, largely rests on the argument that a ‘completion certificate’ issued by the department itself in March 2021, was “illegal” and was cancelled in September 2024.

The certificate was "only issued as an experience certificate,” the letter said, and accused the company of taking “refuge under the so-called completion certificate,” when “major defects remained unrectified and portions of balance and additional works were still pending.”

While L&T has not reacted to the latest letter it received from the irrigation department, sources with knowledge of the developments, said the company is unlikely to cave in to the demands and that the department officials, under pressure to ‘show results’ on the Medigadda issue, may have been too quick with their threats.

Sources said though the government may have adopted a tough stand, there is little it can do to force the company to do its bidding as the construction agency has a strong case on the barrage’s completion and its use for four years till the October 2023 disaster at the structure.

“Further, this raises the question of why the government is not taking any action on irrigation officials up and down the chain of command who were involved in various stages of issuing the completion certificate which has officially been declared as “illegal,” or failed to enforce the construction agreement conditions which the department says were violated,” the sources said.