Hyderabad, Oct 24 (PTI) The committee constituted by the National Dam Safety Authority to examine the reasons for the "sinking of the piers" of the 'Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage' of the Kaleswaram project in Telangana on Tuesday visited the site and obtained details about the issue.

The panel will have a meeting on Wednesday with the state government's technical team, the agency involved in construction of the barrage (in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district) and other stakeholders, a senior official said.

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The state government has not yet ruled out any sabotage angle in the incident in the area which is extremist-affected and it has requested state police and the police in Maharashtra to provide protection to the government assets there, he said.

The state government's teams are working to address the issue, he said.

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In a related development, police in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Tuesday said a case was registered under IPC 427 (mischief) and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act at Mahadevpur police station, following a complaint by an Irrigation official.

Police has taken a petition from the official of Irrigation Department regarding this issue to investigate the matter thoroughly in all angles, Jayashankar Bhupalpally District Superintendent of Police Kiran Khare said in a release.

"Today, NDSA expert committee has inspected the barrage. Police will come to a conclusion after expert committee findings," the senior police official said.

As per requisition given by Irrigation department, police has stopped movement of any vehicular traffic or public on bridge due to safety issue, the release said.

Earlier, the Assistant Executive Engineer, Ambatpally Irrigation Division, who was on duty at the barrage, in a complaint to the police said he heard a big sound on the barrage at about 6.20 pm on October 21 and inspected the barrage along the road bridge and found some damage at piers numbering 19, 20 and 21 of Block Number 7 on the left bank.

The Irrigation official expressed suspicion that the government property might be damaged by unknown offenders and approached the police seeking to conduct a thorough investigation.

The National Dam Safety Authority on October 22 constituted the six-member committee to examine the reasons for the "sinking of the piers" of the 'Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage' of Kaleswaram project.

"The pillars numbering 15 to 20 of the sixth to eighth blocks of the Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage of the Kaleswaram project had reportedly sunk on the night of 21.10.2023. Accordingly, per para 8 of Schedule-II of the Dam Safety Act 2021, a committee is constituted with the following members to examine the reasons for the sinking of the piers of Madigadda (Lakshmi) Barrage," the Director of NDSA Secretariat said in an office order on October 22.

The team shall interact with all the stakeholders, including officers of the state government, the agency involved in the construction of the barrage, and after a thorough examination of the matter shall submit the detailed report duly indicating reasons for the incident, the order had said.

The team shall start its visit on Monday and submit a report on its return, it said.

The constitution of the committee followed a letter by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on October 22 requesting that a team of experts from the Dam Safety Authority set up by the union government under the 'Dam Safety Act' be deputed to perform a thorough field investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, in the run-up to the legislative Assembly polls scheduled for November 30, the BJP, Congress and other opposition parties attacked the BRS government over the issue.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)