The sinking of a few piers at Medigadda barrage, a key component in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, continues to fuel political debate in Telangana, with the new Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announcing that his government would seek an inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the alleged irregularities in the project.

Addressing the Legislative Council on Saturday, he said he would take MLAs and MLCs to the Medigadda barrage site to assess the damage to the barrage.

Welcoming the move, the ruling Congress party alleged that the erstwhile government tried to downplayed the incident which raised doubts on the safety of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project. 

“About two months have passed since this incident took place on October 21, why has the previous government not responded. Why did they tried  to downplay the incident,” G Niranjan,  Senior Vice-President, wondered.

Reports suggest that infrastructure major L&T informed the State government that it was not going to bear the costs of rebuilding the piers sunk in October. “This contradicts the statements made by the then IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao before the elections. He claimed that the incident would not cause any additional costs to the government as the project executor (L&T) would bear the costs,” Niranjan said.

L&T, however, has not responded yet on the reports.

Referring to the opinion that the restoration of Medigadda project might not be possible before the next rainy season, he said the project would suffer more damage if not restored before the monsoon arrives in June next.

Meanwhile, Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy held a review meeting with top officials on the Medigadda issue.

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