NDSA blames it on BRS govt

Hyderabad: The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) has submitted the final report to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry on damages of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. The report reportedly nailed the previous BRS government for the poor Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the barrages and it caused the damages of the structures during the heavy rains.

The report will be submitted to Justice Ghose Commission which was already probing into the irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project and the damage of the barrages, officials said, adding that the recommendations made in the interim report by the NDSA were already under implementation in the repairs of the barrages. The NDSA full report would explain in detail the causes for the damages and how to sustain the structures through repairs without any risks in the future.

The Ghose Commission will use the report to summon BRS leaders mainly former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao to record their statements. The observations made by the NDSA in the report would be crucial to come to a conclusion on the damage of the barrages.

Technical lapses of operation and maintenance failures and the agencies’ role in the construction of the maintenance of the barrages were explained in the final report. Sources said that the Union Ministry would study the report and then forward it to the State government. The Ghose Commission would receive the report from the State Irrigation Department and utilise the finding in the report which is being submitted to the State government by February end or March first week.

Officials said that the NDSA consumed more time to prepare the final report following the State Irrigation Department’s reluctance to conduct field study in recent times. On the insistence of the dam safety authority, officials said that the irrigation wing completed its part of the field study.