Hans News Service Nellore

A high-level five-member delegation from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), headed by Namami Gange State Convener Midathala Ramesh, conducted a detailed inspection of the Kandaleru Dam in Rapur mandal on Friday.

Following the visit, the opposition panel raised serious doubts regarding the structural safety of the reservoir and demanded an immediate high-level investigation into the systematic demolition of protective engineering components and the alleged misuse of approximately ₹23 crore in public funds.

The team thoroughly inspected the ongoing dam bund works and expressed strong opposition to the dismantling of the catch canals built along the main embankment.

Addressing the media on-site, Midathala Ramesh challenged the state government to provide a transparent technical explanation to the public regarding why these vital safety structures, originally engineered to safeguard the earthen dam from erosion and surface run-off damage, are being broken down.

He alleged that the current works are being pushed forward based on a single Chief Engineer’s inspection note, suggesting the project is driven by the financial interests of a contractor-official nexus rather than genuine maintenance needs.

Furthermore, the BJP delegation highlighted critical vulnerabilities in the core infrastructure, pointing out that the stone revetment along a key stretch of the earthen bund between the 8 km and 10 km markers has been heavily damaged since before 2020.

Due to a prolonged lack of budgetary allocations, these structural layers have not been reinforced.

The leaders claimed that the filter layers beneath the revetment are actively deteriorating and are already under severe internal water pressure, which poses an immediate threat to the embankment’s overall stability.

The party slammed irrigation officials for prioritizing lucrative demolition contracts over urgent repairs, noting that key operational systems like the dam head regulator gates and the Kandaleru canal shutters are currently malfunctioning due to neglect.

The delegation, which included senior leaders Narala Subba Reddy, Mudamala Ramesh Reddy, Chinta GinjalaSubrahmanyam, Rachaputi Dhananjaya Rao, and Venkataratnam Naidu, announced that they will lodge a formal complaint with the central Dam Safety Authorities to demand a comprehensive audit.