Medigadda barrage useless unless fully rehabilitated: NDSA to Telangana govt after inspection
New Delhi, Nov 3: The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) has found that the Medigadda Barrage in Telangana has been severely compromised, rendering it useless unless fully rehabilitated.
The NDSA has concluded its investigation into the reasons behind the sinking of the piers of barrage.
A six-member committee led by the Member (Disaster & Resilience) of NDSA visited the site from October 23 to 25 to conduct a thorough examination of the reasons for the sinking of the piers of the Medigadda Barrage.
In a letter to the Telangana chief secretary, NDSA member Sanjay Kumar Sibal said the barrage under the present condition is "rendered useless until fully rehabilitated".
The committee held discussions with the Engineer-in-Chief (General) of the Telangana Irrigation and CAD Department on October 23, inspected the Medigadda Barrage on October 24, and conducted final discussions with various stakeholders, including L&T Infra Ltd., on October 25 in Hyderabad.
The letter said the Irrigation and Command Area Development (CAD) Department did not provide critical data and inputs required by the NDSA committee, as mandated by the Dam Safety Act 2021.
This includes "instrumentation data, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspection reports, completion reports, quality control reports, and more. As per the Dam Safety Act 2021, the I & CAD Department (dam owner) cannot deny the inputs sought by NDSA".
The NDSA said the sinking of the piers was attributed to a combination of problems, including planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance issues.
"There are deficiencies in the project planning and design as well. The barrage has been designed as a floating structure but constructed as a rigid structure. The contiguous secant pile type cut-offs adopted by the project authorities were taken up to rock both at upstream and downstream of the barrage. This has changed the structure behaviour from the designed," it said.
The NDSA also claimed that the dam owners have not inspected or maintained the cement concrete blocks or launching aprons since the commissioning of the barrage in 2019-20.
"In this regard, this maintenance deficiency of the dam owners has progressively weakened the barrage, leading to its failure. This is a significant lapse on the operation and maintenance front," it said.
The Telangana state authorities were urged to take the findings of the committee seriously and implement measures to remedy the situation.
A detailed investigation was sought to be conducted to determine the exact causes of the failure and the NDSA should be informed of the outcomes and proposed rehabilitation measures.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
