Hyderabad: A 10-member Fact-Finding Committee, headed by V Prakash, former chairman of the Telangana State Water Resources Development Corporation, alleged in its report that both the Tanugula and Adavisomanpalli check dams built on the Manair river were blasted using explosives.

The Committee alleged that the sand mafia belonging to the ruling party was behind this destruction.

The Committee stated that local and district Congress leaders are falsely claiming that the check dam was washed away due to poor quality construction. The farmers lamented that it is regrettable that the local Member of Parliament and Union Minister, Bandi Sanjay, is also echoing this claim.

The Committee released a note on their findings on Tuesday. The Committee report said that their findings made it clear that it was destroyed by a bomb blast. It is understood that the 90-metre-long check dam body wall, the concrete apron above and below the check dam, and the cutoff walls have been destroyed. Such extensive destruction is not possible even due to floods. Only the cement layer (wearing coat) on the check dam body wall and apron would be washed away in floods. There might be a possibility of soil erosion and a breach at the ends of the check dam. It is understood that these are fragments that were blown away by an explosion.

The Committee demanded that the Jammikunta police, Koyyuru police and the SPs of Peddapalli and Bhupalpally districts complete the investigation based on the complaint filed by the Irrigation Department engineers and take action to ensure that the culprits are punished severely according to the law.

The Committee appealed to police and mining departments to curb the excesses of the sand mafia in the district. Excessive sand mining also poses a threat to the check dams. Therefore, we demand that illegal sand mining in the check dams be stopped immediately.

The Committee appealed to the state police machinery to complete the investigations into the Medigadda barrage explosion incident, the Hussain Miya check dam incident, and the destruction of the Tanugula and Adavisomanpalli check dams expeditiously and punish the culprits severely according to the law.

The Committee appealed to Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy to restore the Tanugula and Adavisomanpalli check dams and bring them back into use before the next monsoon season. The Committee requested the minister not to make the engineers scapegoats.

Other members of the fact-finding committee included Prof. Seetharama Rao, former Vice-Chancellor of Ambedkar Open University; Prof. Raghava Reddy, University of Hyderabad; Damodar Reddy, retired Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Department; Sridhar Rao Deshpande, retired Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Department; Pittala Ravinder, senior journalist and former State Coordinator, Telangana JAC; Erroju Srinivas, State Secretary, Telangana Vikasa Samithi; Mallavajula Vijayanand, Vice-President, Telangana Vikasa Samithi; Buchanna, and senior journalist Shankar and others.