Loud sound heard near Lakshmi Barrage, pillar sinks a bit, conspiracy suspected

Officials have launched an enquiry after a loud sound was heard on Saturday evening in the vicinity of the Lakshmi Barrage (Meddigadda) of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. A conspiracy angle was being suspected after a small stretch of the bridge of the barrage appeared out of alignment, giving rise to apprehensions that the base of one of the 87 pillars could have sunk a bit.

As a precautionary measure, officials have begun releasing the stored water at the barrage to facilitate a full examination of the pillars. Project officials conducted an emergency inspection of the structure after the loud sound around 7 p.m. and senior officials were alerted. Officials could not ascertain what happened since it was already dark. The movement of vehicles over the bridge was stopped immediately.

The 1632-meter-long Lakshmi Barrage is located on the Telangana – Maharashtra border and has 87 pillars. It was built by renowned construction company L&T. Developmental works were still on for the barrage, which had a present inflow of 14,930 cusecs while the live storage was about 10 tmcft. Officials suspect that the sinking could not be related to the current inflow or the storage but to some other reason, which was being verified. The barrage, brought into use in 2019, has a capacity of 16.1 tmcft.

The loud noise is stated to have been heard somewhere near the 20th pillar on the Maharashtra side. By then the



L&T and Irrigation staff engaged in works on the bridge had left for the day. The control room staff immediately alerted higher officials, who inspected the project and found that about 300 metres from the Maharashtra border, a small portion of the bridge was out of alignment.

Irrigation Engineer-in-Chief Venkateshwarlu maintained that detailed information was not yet available and no light could be thrown on the conspiracy angle as of now. The law enforcement agencies in both states have been alerted about the development. He explained that the L&T, which built the barrage has the responsibility of maintaining it for five years. The company has to take responsibility for taking up repairs if any and the Government need not spend anything. Venkateshwarlu said the repairs would be carried out in a month or two and vehicular traffic restored as quickly as possible.

Officials explained that Medigadda barrage withstood the highest recorded flood flow of 28 lakh cusecs last year, and that it was designed to withstand 28.25 lakh cusecs. Last year, 28.075 cusecs water had flowed during the flood season and there was no damage to the barrage, which was designed based on water flow data for the last 100 years. One of the biggest floods in the region was reported on August 15, 1986, but last year’s flood was even worse. Still, water had safely passed through the barrage, they said adding that the bridge was still under the control of L&T, who had to maintain it for five years.