■   Two years after Medigadda collapse, no repairs yet

■   Vigilance, Ghosh reports blame L&T for faulty works

■   Fake completion certificates under RE1 and RE2 exposed

■   State took over Rs 15,500 crore Metro burden from L&T

■   Fears rise that Kaleshwaram may follow the same fate

metro india news  I hyderabad

It's been two years since cracks appeared in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. Once celebrated as a key source of water for the state, it is now a symbol of delays, confusion, and political problems. The main parts of the project — Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages — still show signs of neglect and inaction. Despite repeated warnings, the Medigadda barrage, where the seventh block sank two years ago, has not been repaired. No one knows who will fix it, when repairs will start, or who will pay for them. Instead of taking strong action against the contractor L&T (JV), the government has only issued a few notices and then stopped taking responsibility.

Adding to the suspicion, the same L&T company, which was responsible for the Hyderabad Metro, managed to escape from that project too, handing over the massive debt to the state government. Telangana has now taken on a burden of Rs 13,500 crore in loans and paid another Rs 2,000 crore to the company — putting a total of Rs 15,500 crore on the shoulders of taxpayers. And now, the fear gripping experts and citizens alike is simple: will Kaleshwaram also become another Metro — a project that ends up draining the state’s finances while the contractor walks free?

The Vigilance report’s findings are damning. It clearly stated that the contractor L&T (JV) had obtained completion certificates even though several works under RE1 were left unfinished. What’s more, the RE2 supplementary agreement, worth a staggering Rs 4,613 crore, was signed without completing those pending works. It concluded that the contractor was responsible for the collapse of Medigadda’s seventh block due to technical faults in the secant piles. These lapses, the report said, must be rectified at the contractor’s own cost — yet no action has been taken so far.

The Justice P.C. Ghosh Commission report painted an equally grim picture. It found that two certificates — one issued in September 2019 declaring “substantial completion,” and another in March 2021 certifying “work completion” — were both illegal and served only to benefit the contractor. 

The Commission said this was done despite clear evidence that the works were incomplete and riddled with structural defects. It further confirmed that as per the contract terms, L&T (JV) bears full responsibility for the damage and should restore the barrage entirely at its own expense.

Despite these clear directions, the government has shown little urgency. It took more than three and a half months after the reports reached it for the irrigation department to issue a single notice to L&T. Experts in the irrigation sector call this nothing but “official slumber.” They point out that if the government had acted promptly when the reports were submitted, recovery proceedings could have already begun, and part of the loss might have been recovered. Instead, two monsoon seasons have gone by, the damage remains, and the project stands frozen in uncertainty.

The controversy deepens when one looks at the Hyderabad Metro episode. The same contractor, L&T, smoothly walked away from the project after securing its financial dues. The government took over Rs 15,500 crore of debt and operational responsibility, just weeks after a senior L&T Metro executive was appointed as a government advisor. Critics question whether this was merely coincidence or part of a larger pattern. They argue that the state, which should have enforced accountability, instead seems to have shown undue sympathy towards L&T.

Now, the same question looms large over Kaleshwaram. Will the government repeat the Metro mistake — sparing the contractor and burdening itself with yet another massive liability? Political analysts believe that the signals so far are worrying. Despite both Vigilance and Commission reports holding L&T accountable, the government continues to delay firm action. The issuing of notices appears more like a ritual than a resolution. Meanwhile, the damaged Medigadda barrage — once touted as an engineering marvel — remains half-crippled and lifeless.

For the people of Telangana, Kaleshwaram is not just a project; it is a promise — a promise that their rivers will flow and their fields will flourish. But with each passing season, that promise fades further. Two years have already been lost, and a third monsoon is approaching fast. The public now watches anxiously — will the government finally crack the whip on L&T and restore Kaleshwaram to its former glory? Or will it let this project too slip into the same fate as the Metro — a dream buried under billions of rupees in debt?