KTR on Sunkishala wall collapse: Not engineering mistake; CM Revanth at fault

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao blamed chief minister A Revanth Reddy for the Sunkishala project retaining wall collapse at Nagarjuna Sagar.

Declaring it the CM’s failure as the minister handling Municipal Administration and Urban Development, KTR demanded a judicial probe and asked deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu to blacklist Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), the agency awarded the construction work immediately until the completion of the judicial inquiry.

‘No engineering or design flaw behind Sunkishala incident’

Speaking to the mediapersons at the Telangana Bhavan here on Friday, the BRS working president said that unlike what the Congress alleged about the Medigadda barrage, there was no engineering or design fault in the Sunkishala incident.

“The haphazard gate installation, without the ongoing oversight of the relevant minister, resulted in the collapse of the retaining wall between the two expansion joints. The chief minister, who is in charge of the municipal administration department, is a total failure,” he claimed.

‘Government kept silent about collapse on August 2’

KTR drew attention to the fact that the incident happened on August 2 while the Assembly was in session, but as is customary, the government remained silent about it.

“If the retaining wall of Sunkishala collapsed on August 2, why did the Congress government keep the incident under wraps for a week? Was it something the government was trying to hide or didn’t even know about? In any scenario, the Leader of the House, the chief minister, should take accountability. The previous BRS government did not cover up the sinking of the piers at Medigadda barrage even though the Assembly elections were in progress,” the BRS working president said.

Can’t use BRS as an excuse anymore, says KTR

Elaborating further, KTR said that the catastrophe happened because gates were fixed even though the officials advised against it and requested that the government wait until the end of the flood season. “The Congress takes credit for anything positive, but it holds the BRS accountable for negative outcomes. They cannot use the former BRS government as an excuse to avoid their obligations,” he said.

KTR also stated that the present condition of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), which includes the Medigadda barrage, has proven the Congress government’s accusations false, as the barrage survived a flood of 12 lakh cusecs. Additionally, the government has the ability to pump water to other reservoirs from the Godavari River. “How are they going to pump water into reservoirs if the Kaleshwaram project fails?” he questioned.

Along with questioning the Centre’s silence on the Sunkishala incident, KTR also hinted at possible collusion between the Congress and the BJP.

“The National Dam Safety Authority or NDSA was notified and a report was promptly filed at the time of the incident at the Kaleshwaram project. However, no such action has been taken in relation to the incident in Sunkishala,” he alleged.

Bhatti’s counter to KTR on Sunkishala project

Instead of accepting the blunder committed in Sunkishala project and tendering an apology to people, it is not proper for BRS MLA K T Ramarao to attack Congress government, said Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu.

Bhatti said that government would order an inquiry to ascertain the quality of all the projects on Krishna River taken up during the time of BRS government in the wake of Sunkishala incident. Kaleswaram and Sunkishala projects were constructed under BRS government rule. Kaleswaram project got sunk even before water was released and Sunkishala project’s shoddy work got exposed after water was released, he said.

"What will a project constructed at Nagarjuna Sagar death storage get if not water? “ Was it not under your government the retaining wall for Sunkishala project was built?”, Bhatti questioned the BRS leaders. Though Congress party warned that the location for construction of Medigedda, Sundilla and Annaram barrages was not proper, the BRS government went ahead with the construction without heeding to its advice. Now every one is witness to the devastating results of BRS decisions," Bhatti said.