NDSA team to arrive in to study Medigadda, other Barrages of Kaleshwaram Project

NDSA team to inspect Kaleshwaram project barrages in Telangana. It sought data on various aspects of the barrages.

The six-member National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) experts team led by former Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) J. Chandrashekhar Iyer will arriving in Hyderabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit to inspect and study the damages suffered by Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.

The team is scheduled to have an introductory meeting with Secretary (Irrigation) Rahul Bojja and other senior authorities/engineers of the Irrigation Department in the afternoon before proceeding to Medigadda in the evening. The team will be put up near Medigadda for the next three days.

It is schedule make site inspection of the three barrages on March 7 and 8 and return to Hyderabad on March 9. Before leaving for Delhi in the evening that day, the team would have a meeting with the Irrigation Department officials, other State Government officials and work agencies of the three barrages.

Meanwhile, the team has sought preliminary data on Annaram and Sundilla barrages on 19 aspects including barrages layout planning, topographic survey and alternative site selection studies, geological and geotechnical details of foundation strata including borehole log details, SPT results, plate load test results, if any, and others.

Other data/inputs sought by the team includes instrumentation data of barrages – peizometer, stress cells and others till date; details of all distress conditions observed in the barrages till date; sectional drawings of the barrages structure showing geological profile; pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspection reports, EAP and others since the barrages have been added as specified dams by NDSA.

Design calculations of barrages, hydraulic (surface and sub-surface) and stability, safe exist gradient calculation, maximum and minimum stress under raft for various design conditions; foundation improvement work, if any; quality control reports; third-party monitoring reports, if any; physical model study reports, if any, pre-monsoon and post monsoon cross-sections/soundings on the upstream and downstream of the barrages since their commissioning along with actual retrogression.

Relevant clauses of contract agreement regarding defect liability period; completion reports of each block consisting of all components; photographs taken in the upstream and downstream of barrages about cracks marked, if any; drawings showing transverse secant pile cut-off under the double pier and detailing of joining top of piles with pier; condition of all gates and condition of stop log and service gate grooves were also sought.