Congress: Maintenance of Kadem dam ignored, surrounding villages in danger of flooding

Hyderabad: Why has the state government not carried out the repair and maintenance works of the gates at Kadem Dam?

Kodanda Reddy, national vice-president for Telangana Congress party said, “Two gates had to be lifted with JCB and it took a whole day. The estimate for carrying out the repairs and maintenance of the gates was about Rs 2 crores. This estimate was done in 2020. Why was no repair work taken up since then? It was scary when on July 27 the water breached and came down from the crest. The gates were not opening and the malfunction is clearly due to lack of maintenance.”

In 2022 also, the dam waters were at full capacity and the same is being seen in 2023. Reddy said, “For two consecutive years, we saw that the dam was overflowing and there is a need to ensure that the gates open on time. The current situation of the gates is due to a lack of maintenance. The villagers living in the areas around the dam are very scared. Not only have they lost crops this year their fields and homes have also been marooned. A total of 14 villages are affected. When I spoke to them last night, they said that there are no relief measures in place.”

Heavy flood waters of 3.50 lakh cusecs at the Kadem project, more water expected due to continuous rains. Low lying areas people are evacuated @NewsMeter_In@NewsmeterTelugu pic.twitter.com/iY1b80J3wt

— Kaniza Garari (@KanizaGarari) July 27, 2023

Heavy inflows from Maharashtra

The Kadem Dam gets inflows from the upper regions. It’s an old dam that connects Maharashtra to Telangana. When it rains in Maharashtra, the dam receives heavy inflows. For the last two years, due to depression, there has been heavy rainfall in both states simultaneously. Due to this, there are heavy inflows to the dam. It is a tributary of the Godavari River.

Damage to property, life

The last two floods due to the overflowing of the dam are worrying the locals around the dam, said Kodanda Reddy. They are not sure if the dam is safe. With gates not opening on time and they being marooned for a second time, there is a lot of anger among people. Villagers said that the surge of flood waters from the dam can damage the Maisamma temple in the vicinity of the dam.

Minister and MLA visit

Forest Minister and MLA of Bharath Rashtra Samithi Indrakaran Reddy and Khanapur MLA A Rekha Naik visited the dam and took stock of the situation. The water was at its peak on July 27 at 5 am at 3,87,583 cusecs. The inflows decreased later and that helped in controlling the situation.

Minister Allola Indrakaran Reddy inspected Kadem Project in Nirmal dist. At present Kadem project inflow is 2.59 lakh cusec, while outflow is 2.36 lakh cusec. Officials are monitoring continuously.

Follow @NewsMeter_In @CoreenaSuares2 @KanizaGarari pic.twitter.com/R76bhYRqpb

— SriLakshmi Muttevi (@SriLakshmi_10) July 27, 2023

But the pending repair works for the dam have now become a bone of contention between the ruling party and the opposition. People are also angry as it is the second time in a row that their fields and farms have been submerged.