Medigadda barrage got nod before DPR, commission told

Hyderabad: The irrigation department has informed the Justice PC Ghose Commission that administrative approval for the Medigadda barrage was issued on March 1, 2016, without cabinet clearance and before a detailed project report was ready. Officials said no DPR existed at the time of the permission.

According to some unverified reports in local media, the agency WAPCOS was given the responsibility to prepare a report on Medigadda even before the barrage proposal came up in Maharashtra-level discussions.

It was only in 2017, nearly a year and a half later, that the cabinet ratified the Medigadda approval, by which time construction had advanced to a certain stage.

The barrage is part of the Kaleshwaram project across the Godavari. The Justice PC Ghose Commission had sought cabinet resolutions linked to the barrage works, prompting the irrigation department’s principal secretary to submit the details. The Chief Minister’s Office also shared further documents, sources said.

Testimonies before the commission reportedly indicated that then chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and former ministers Etela Rajender and Harish Rao stated the barrage was taken up with cabinet consent.

According to documents provided to the commission, the administrative sanction was granted on March 1, 2016, for ₹2,594 crore. The revised estimate of ₹4,613 crore got cabinet clearance only in August 2021.

Officials also indicated that in October 2017, they informed about changes in the three barrage locations only through a note, without a fresh cabinet clearance.

A government order in April 2015 had given WAPCOS the mandate to prepare the DPR for the Kaleshwaram redesign. That DPR, citing a cost of ₹13,593 crore for Medigadda to Yellampalli lift systems, reached the department by January 17, 2016. The ENC then recommended proceeding based on that, and administrative approval was issued weeks later.

However, the irrigation department’s records later showed that the DPR formally arrived only on March 27, 2016, raising questions over why the clearance was issued before the DPR was officially available.

Sources said the commission is also focusing on whether the cabinet had properly cleared the water diversion redesign at Medigadda, beyond just the barrage construction. It is examining approvals, quality, design, and maintenance issues in detail.