Portion of pillar of Lakshmi Barrage Kaleshwaram LI Project sinks; cause under investigation

Bhupalapally: Tension prevailed after a small portion of a pillar of the bridge of the Lakshmi (Medigadda) barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district allegedly showed signs of slight sinking. The project is said to be one of the prestigious projects of the BRS-led state government.

On Saturday night, locals reported hearing a loud noise near the barrage and the authorities were alerted. It was later reportedly found that the sixth to eighth blocks of the barrage, between pillars 15 to 20, had sunk. The authorities immediately suspended the movement on the bridge connecting Maharashtra and Telangana, with vehicles rerouted to alternative roads.

According to the source, it is suspected that one of the pillars of the barrage reportedly sank partially. The damage was first noticed by motorists who immediately alerted the irrigation department officials, who in turn informed the police.

Following this, the KLIP officials opened all 46 gates of the barrage to discharge around 10.7 tmcft of water currently stored in it to facilitate a thorough inspection of the pillars. The 1.6 km long barrage has 87 pillars and a storage capacity of 16.17 tmcft.

The Medigadda or Lakshmi Barrage, as it is known, was the first barrage under KLIP, connecting Telangana with Maharashtra, at Sironcha, with a total water storage capacity of 10.87 tmcft. Currently, it has 10.1 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet).

The officials have initiated a detailed inquiry to determine the exact cause behind the incident.

L&T expert team to access the damage

In a statement, officials of L&T stated that the 1.632 Km long Lakshmi Barrage (Medigadda) with 86 Piers for the State of Telangana was built in the year 2019 and since then the Barrage has been in operation and has withstood for the last five flood seasons, including the recent 2023 flood season.

Last year, this Barrage experienced the highest recorded flood of 28.70 Lakh Cusecs against design discharge of 28.25 L cusecs. The design of barrage was by the state authorities. The Barrage continued to operate safely & withstood even in unprecedented floods of July 2022.

"On Saturday evening, at one of the locations of Block-7 of the Barrage, the bridge portion sagging was observed after a loud noise. Our technical expert team is already deputed to the project site to assess the abrupt cause of the damages along with the state authorities

L&T will take necessary action to rectify the damages upon technical assessment of the damages and way forward solution at the earliest possible time." said L&T Spokesperson.

Congress leaders visit the site:

Congress leaders visited the site to examine the situation. The police stopped MLA Sridhar Babu from going near the barrage. “We were not allowed to check what exactly happened. If the water is released completely, it might affect the low-lying areas. Redesigning the bridge was not a good idea,” said Sridhar Babu.

Reacting to the incident, TPCC president Revanth Reddy blamed KCR for his failure to provide quality material for the construction. He demanded an inquiry by the Central Vigilance Commission.