Now it has come to light that seepage is increasing in the Polavaram coffer dams due to negligence of former chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who has practically abandoned the project. The Central Water Resources Commission (CWRC) and other central government agencies believed that the diaphragm wall was damaged due to the floods of 2020 and 2021.
However, it was later revealed that the damage was caused by the Jagan government’s negligence of management. This came to light in a review conducted by Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary of the Central Water Resources Department, on December 5 last year. The spillway gates were closed when the floods occurred, without following the guidelines in the management of the dam gates. As a result, the flood waters went towards the main dam and flowed over the coffer dams.
This resulted in a huge accumulation between the upper and lower coffer dams and seepage was formed, said senior officials of the CWRC, the Project Authority (PPA), and other central government agencies on that occasion. They demanded a thorough investigation into all this.
However, experts say that this was not revealed due to the election atmosphere at that time. They say that more misfortunes have occurred due to the failure to identify those responsible for the errors and losses. They mention not only the damage to the diaphragm wall, but also seepage in coffer dams and sagging of the guide bund.
Jagan stopped the Polavaram work immediately after taking charge as the Chief Minister at the end of May 2019. He cancelled the contract of the Navayuga company, which was working at a fast pace until then, due to personal bias. In reverse tendering, the work of Rs. 1,771 crore was handed over to Megha Engineering for Rs. 1,556 crore.
Immediately after that, the Water Resources Department, which was supposed to enter into an agreement with Megha regarding the responsibility of the spillway, spill channel, radial gates, and diaphragm wall, did not take any steps in that direction. As a result, even if the diaphragm wall was damaged or the guide bund sagged, the contractor company could not be held responsible for the loss.
As a result, the Center now has to bear an additional Rs. 998 crore for the construction of a new diaphragm wall. Similarly, neither the contractor company nor the officials were held responsible for the sagging of the guide bund. In the last five years, a loss of up to Rs. 4,500 crore has been incurred in the Polavaram works.