Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) senior president G. Niranjan alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the letter of L&T company evading its responsibility from reconstruction of the Medigadda barrage, where some pillars caved in.
At a press conference here on Saturday, he wondered whether there was a change in the L&T company policy because of a change in the government? The company that issued a statement earlier that it would take up the repair works and bear the costs of it is now insisting for subsidiary agreement to take up works.
He alleged that the L&T company has taken advantage of lenient attitude of the previous BRS government, Union government and relevant Central government organisations and is now trying to evade from its responsibility. A full investigation should be conducted to establish the truth.
Mr. Niranjan said that ever since pillars caved in at Medigadda barrage on October 21, every action thereafter looked suspicious. He said it was noteworthy that SP Kiran Prabhakar made contradictory statements on the Medigadda barrage incident within an hour.
In the press note sent by the SP at 6.15 p.m. that day, he said the police had come to the conclusion that the Medigadda barrage was damaged due to a structural fault only and said there was no sabotage. In another press note given at 7.04 p.m., they have registered a case under Section 427 of the IPC Act and under Section 3 of the Destruction of Public Property Act.
Is the then government behind this change of stand by the SP?, he asked. Engineer-in-Chief N. Venkateswarlu said on that day that the construction is under management of L&T company when the barrage collapsed. This statement was made on October 22, the day after the tragedy.
On the same day the general manager of L&T also announced that they would rebuild. What is the reason for saying one thing in the past and now changing its stand?, he asked.
Mr. Niranjan said that after this incident, the Central Dam Safety Authority team inspected and wrote a letter to the state government mentioning the defects in the design and construction of the project. Immediately, a letter was written by the Principal Secretary of the State Irrigation Department in reply to the Central Dam Safety Authority letter saying that there were no irregularities as alleged.
In response to this, the Central Dam Safety Authority also replied that they had stated the facts and they had not made any baseless allegations. However, two days ago, the Central Dam Safety Authority wrote a letter to the State government saying that if the water is removed at Medigadda and informed them, they will come and re-investigate.
He reminded that Telangana Congress Committee complained to the Election Commission on November 3 in this regard and CEO Vikas Raj forwarded the complaint to the Chief Secretary on November 7 to take further action, but the Chief Secretary has not taken any action till date.
