NDSA Report: Medigadda Barrage Block Beyond Repair

Hyderabad: The final report from the National Dam Safety Authority is learnt to have made it clear that the damaged Block 7 of Medigadda barrage was not in a state where it could be repaired, or restored. It is learnt to have concluded that the partial collapse of the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme, as well as problems at its sister barrages at Annaram and Sundilla, resulted from poor planning, faulty design, and the abuse of the structures for storing water despite the fact that they were not to be used as dams to store water. This observation follows NDSA’s communications to the irrigation department pointing out that these ‘repairs’ interfered with the results of geological and geophysical tests it prescribed at the barrages to determine the extent of the damages, and how any investigation report post repairs, interferes with recommendations for permanent solutions for the problems as the original damaged conditions ended up being modified. The NDSA report is learnt to have recommended redesign and reconstruction of the downstream portions of the barrages including the stilling basin – the portion where the shooting velocities of water released after lifting the barrage gates is supposed to slow down. However, even during the initial inspections soon after the October 2023 sinking of Block 7 of the Medigadda barrage, the NDSA had found that the shooting velocities of water exiting the gates far exceeded the designed capacities of this, and the other two barrages.