Hyderabad: Medigadda barrage, a key component of Telangana’s flagship Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS), has been flagged by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) as an irrigation project with the most serious safety deficiencies in the country, raising fresh concerns over its structural stability and long-term viability.Following post-monsoon inspections of 1,681 specified dams across India in 2025, the NDSA categorised Medigadda under category I—the highest risk classification—warning that unresolved deficiencies could potentially lead to failure.The NDSA has recommended the complete removal and reconstruction of block 7 of the barrage, where some piers sank in Oct 2023, along with additional remedial measures. Similar safety interventions have also been advised for the Sundilla and Annaram barrages. Telangana govt is currently in the process of finalising a consultant to prepare the required designs.The assessment was disclosed in a written reply by Union minister of state for jal shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, in response to questions raised by TDP MPs G Lakshminarayana and Byreddy Shabari on the safety of dams older than 50 years.The Medigadda barrage, designed to irrigate vast tracts of Telangana, has been under intense scrutiny since Oct 2023, triggering political controversy, technical investigations and multiple safety audits. Explaining the classification, the minister said that category I dams suffer from serious deficiencies that demand urgent intervention. Apart from Medigadda, lower Khajuri dam in Uttar Pradesh and Bokaro barrage in Jharkhand have also been placed in this highest risk category.“Category I dams have serious safety concerns and vulnerabilities that pose significant risks and demand urgent intervention to ensure their continued safe operation. Of these, the Medigadda barrage in Telangana has been asked to implement preventive and mitigating measures recommended by the NDSA to safeguard the structure’s integrity and resilience,” the minister said.Major poll issueThe sinking of a portion of the Medigadda barrage had become a major election campaign issue in 2023, providing ammunition to the Congress and BJP to attack then ruling BRS. Both opposition parties cited the incident to reinforce their allegations of large-scale corruption in the Kaleshwaram project, and argued that the structural failure exposed serious flaws in planning, execution and oversight.During the campaign, Congress leader and present chief minister A Revanth Reddy had even alleged that K Chandrasekhar Rao’s family had profited from the project and ridiculed the former chief minister’s claim of Kaleshwaram being the world’s largest lift irrigation project. He had said that within a few years of commissioning, pumps worth hundreds of crores had submerged and that the sinking of barrage pillars had raised questions over the project’s durability and accountability.Providing further context, the Union minister said the NDSA had compiled details of all 1,681 dams in the country that are over 50 years old. Under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, the responsibility for the safety, operation and maintenance of dams rests primarily with their owners, which, in most cases, are state govts. The law mandates that every specified dam undergo both pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspections annually.“As per this compliance, dam-owning agencies reported the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspections of 6,524 and 6,553 dams respectively, for 2025. As an outcome of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspections, dams are being categorised into three categories on the basis of urgency of repairs and maintenance,” the minister added.
