The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central and State governments in a writ petition seeking a direction to the National Dam Safety Authority to inspect different barrages and pumphouses of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme project and submit a report on the feasibility of partial utilisation of the project.Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the HC, after hearing contentions of the petitioner Srirambhatla Sharath Kumar, a practicing advocate of the HC, directed the Deputy Solicitor General to appear before the bench on July 21 when the matter would be heard again. The judge issued notices to Union Ministry of Jal Shakti’s secretary, Telangana Chief Secretary, principal secretary (irrigation and command area development) and the Telangana Retired Engineers’ Association. They were directed to file their responses by the next date of hearing.The petitioner said it had been close to three years since a damage was noticed at one portion of the Medigadda barrage of KLIS. The NDSA officials inspected the barrage then, inspected it and identified certain structural deficiencies at the barrage. It wanted the damaged structure to be repaired. The Authority did not want the barrage to be operationalised it the repair was completed, the petitioner said.Though the damages to the Medigadda barrage was noticed way back in 2023, the State government did not take any initiative to repair the affected structure. This suggested that the present government had an agenda to create an impression that the KLIS project itself was a disaster and the money spent on it was wasted, he maintained.The intentions of the government apart, the farmers were facing hardships due to paucity of rains presently. The sowing season started a month ago but lack of rains made the lives of agriculturists even more difficult. In this backdrop, not undertaking the repairs for the damaged barrage and leaving the KLIS defunct was aggravating the entire agriculture in the State. It was high time the government acted and made use of whatever water was available by operationalising all the barrages of KLIS project, he said. Published - July 15, 2026 09:19 pm IST