Alleging that the Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage episode proved a colossal loss of public money, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and Madhira MLA Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has demanded that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) or other Central agencies should probe what he called the ‘mega scam’ behind it.
Speaking to the media at Mudigonda in Khammam district on Saturday, Mr. Vikramarka said the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) expert panel inspected the Medigadda barrage site in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on October 24.
In its report it made it clear that the barrage should not be filled with water until the entire project was rehabilitated. Signs of boiling already exist in downstream Annaram and Sundilla barrages, a precursor to failure. These barrages should also be examined on a war footing for signs of piping and distress, he said citing the report.
The BRS government redesigned the Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahitha Chevella project originally planned by the then Congress government and renamed it as Kaleshwaram project taking the cost to ₹1.28 lakh crore.
The project is now facing a precarious situation owing to the sinking of piers from 15 to 25 in Block 7 of the barrage and it revealed the glaring flaws in design and construction of the project, he flayed.
The entire KLIP has become useless with a distress condition developed in one block of the Medigadda barrage adversely affecting the functionality of the barrage, the CLP leader alleged, demanding a thorough probe by the Central agencies to determine the causes for such ‘serious lapses’ and prosecute all those responsible for it.
