Telangana has secured the deputation of three Indian Army Corps of Engineers officers to support the completion of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel and the rehabilitation of the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages under the Kaleshwaram project, the state government said. The officers are expected to strengthen technical supervision, coordination and safety oversight on the two major irrigation assignments.
The Military Secretary’s Branch of the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence has agreed to depute Lieutenant Colonel Satyadev Singh, Lieutenant Colonel Ranjit A. Menon and Lieutenant Colonel H. V. Bhalla to Telangana. The state will use their services on what it described as technically challenging works.
Telangana Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy sought the deputation during a recent meeting with Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth in New Delhi. According to the minister, the request was influenced by the state’s experience working with Colonel Parikshit Mehra, who has been on deputation with Telangana for about two years and has been involved with both the SLBC tunnel and planning for the rehabilitation of the three Kaleshwaram barrages.
Under the proposed deployment, one of the three officers will supervise operations at the SLBC tunnel’s two excavation fronts, including work inside the tunnel near the excavation faces. The other two officers will be assigned to the repair and rehabilitation works at Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla.
About 35 kilometres of the approximately 44-kilometre SLBC tunnel has been completed. The Telangana government has fixed June 2028 as the target for completing the remaining section. The state said advanced geophysical investigations, reinforced ventilation and safety systems, continuous documentation and strict field-level supervision are being incorporated into the execution of the project.
The SLBC tunnel is among India’s longest and most technically demanding irrigation tunnels, according to the government’s description of the project. The deployment comes as the state seeks additional technical capacity for work involving underground excavation, worker safety and coordination across multiple agencies and specialist teams.
At Kaleshwaram, investigations recommended by the National Dam Safety Authority are nearing completion. These include soil, concrete and foundation tests for the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. IIT Bombay and AFRY India are examining the findings and preparing final designs for the structural interventions required, the state government said.
The government has said the barrages will be restored to a safe and functional condition through scientific rehabilitation. The works follow structural concerns at the three barrages and require investigations before final repair designs are implemented. The supplied announcement did not provide a separate completion date for the rehabilitation programme.
Reddy said the involvement of Army engineers would improve quality control, field-level coordination, decision-making, discipline and accountability. He also said the state would not pursue speed at the cost of worker safety, engineering standards or the long-term stability of the structures.
The deputation will place the Army officers within two infrastructure efforts with different immediate requirements: completing the remaining underground excavation at SLBC and finalising and executing structural rehabilitation at the Kaleshwaram barrages. The next milestones are the officers’ deployment, completion of the ongoing dam-safety investigations, preparation of final intervention designs and progress towards the June 2028 SLBC completion target.
