Hyderabad:
The Justice Ghose Commission is investigating the construction of the Medigadda barrage under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. The investigation found that the previous state government began construction before completing important studies, known as model studies, that should have been done first. The government also started the project without taking into account the monsoon weather reports.
On Friday, a team of engineers from the State Research Laboratory in the irrigation department attended an open house inquiry held by the Ghose Commission. One of these engineers, Sridevi, surprised the Commission by not providing clear answers to their questions. She claimed she did not have details about the construction of the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages. Sridevi had worked as an engineer during the construction of the Kaleshwaram project from 2018 to 2020.
The engineers from the research team also admitted that field officers failed to open the barrage gates when there were heavy inflows of water, which likely caused damage to the barrages, especially Medigadda. Although the team initially conducted model studies before and after the project, the government proceeded with construction without considering the findings from these studies.
