Over damages to Medigadda barrage of Kaleswaram project, Congress requests CBI investigation

In a letter to President Droupadi Murmu on Friday, Telangana Congress senior vice-president G Niranjan demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation look into the damage caused by the Kaleswaram project’s Medigadda barrage.

A team from the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) inspected the site following reports that fissures had appeared in the barrage’s pillars. It said that unless the Medigadda Barrage is completely restored, its integrity has been seriously jeopardized.

The Congress party informed the President that the dam barrage had gradually eroded due to ‘maintenance deficiencies’ and that there had been ‘lack of stringent quality control’ during construction, citing the NDSA findings.

It further stated that the Sundilla and Annaram barrages, which were built upstream of the Medigadda, are prone to similar failures due to their comparable design and construction techniques. The Congress stated that there had already been reports of water seepage at the Annaram barrage.

According to G Niranjan, the project’s estimated cost was approximately Rs 1,25,000 crore. He called for a CBI investigation, claiming that loans of approximately Rs 80,000 crore were obtained from central government lending institutions and public sector banks affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The leader of the Congress party claimed that the state government officials, under the leadership of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, are ‘likely to cover and damage the records’ and that there would be significant financial loss and possible harm from the cracks in the barrages.

In order to prevent loss of life and property, the party requested that the central government supervise the maintenance and security of the three barrages.

Rahul Gandhi, a Congress MP, had visited the Medigadda barrage the day before on November 3 and said that ‘shoddy construction’ was to blame for cracks that had developed in some of the barrage’s pillars. He charged that the family of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao utilized the Kaleshwaram project as their ‘personal ATM’ to rob the populace.