Key Points

The Irrigation and Command Area Development Department invited EOI for empanelment of reputed design agencies for rehabilitation and restoration designs of the three barrages based on the investigations carried out as per the directions of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) committee.

Proposal for EOI have to be submitted before October 15, Chief Engineer, Central Designs Organisation, said in a notification.

The NDSA committee, which conducted a thorough probe into the project after some piers of Medigadda barrage sank in October 2023, in its final report in April 2025 recommended the preparation of a rehabilitation design for all the three barrages.

"Based on inferences drawn from various investigations and studies, a suitable rehabilitation plan must be designed and implemented. The Committee recommends that the Irrigation Department engage reputed institutions and departments for these tasks. Given the design complexities, the rehabilitation design should preferably be reviewed by the Central Water Commission," the report stated.

The final report, spanning 378 pages and 16 chapters, notes in its 'Recommendations on the way forward' that issues such as sand piping, cavity formation beneath the raft, construction flaws, and design deficiencies -- already observed in Block 7 of the Medigadda barrage -- could also affect other blocks.

The report stated that issues such as sand piping, cavity formation beneath the raft, construction flaws, and design deficiencies observed in Block 7 of the Medigadda barrage could also affect other blocks.

The NDSA concluded that upstream barrages, Annaram and Sundilla, which exhibit similar design and construction flaws, have experienced structural distress and damage, rendering them unserviceable.

Last month, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had directed the department officials to get going on identifying and selecting design consultants for the required repairs to the barrages.

The minister had also stated that NDSA report was a direct indictment of the previous BRS government, exposing serious flaws in its design, construction and maintenance.

The Minister accused the previous BRS government of mortgaging Telangana's future by borrowing over Rs. 1 lakh crore at high interest rates to build a project that collapsed during its regime.

The P.C. Ghose Commission, which probed the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, submitted its report to the state government on July 31, 2025.

The Commission headed by the former judge of the Supreme Court was constituted on March 14, 2024 to probe the irregularities in planning, design, construction, quality control, operation and maintenance of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram project constructed during the term of previous BRS government.

Following a marathon debate on the report in the Assembly on August 31, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced that the case relating to irregularities in the project will be handed to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

- IANS