The three-day visit of a team of foreign experts to the Polavaram irrigation project concluded on Wednesday, following extensive field inspections and detailed technical review meetings.
The experts would hold a follow-up meeting with Polavaram Project Authority Chief Engineer M. Ramesh Kumar in Rajamahendravaram on Thursday, and were scheduled to meet the Polavaram Authority’s CEO in New Delhi on Friday.
The visiting experts, Sean Hinchberger, David B. Paul, and Gianfranco De Cicco, were accompanied by officials from the Central Water Commission, including Chief Engineer Sarabjit Singh Bakshi, Manish Rathore, Gaurav Tiwari, and Hemant Gautam, and representatives from the Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), Manish Gupta and Ravi Agarwal.
Senior officials from the Polavaram Project Authority, including Member-Secretary M. Raghuram, Director K. Shankar, Chief Engineer M. Ramesh Kumar, and NIRM Director Ajay Kumar Naitanil, participated.
Over the three days, the team conducted around nine hours of field-level inspections covering Gap-1, Gap-2, D-Hill, G-Hill, upstream and downstream portions of the main dam, the diaphragm wall (D-wall), dewatering channel, rockfill and clay stockpiles, and soil strengthening works at Main Dam Gap-1. This was followed by nearly 12 hours of in-depth review meetings.
The review meetings during the first two days were chaired by Mr. Bakshi, while the final day’s meeting was chaired by Mr. Ramesh Kumar.
Andhra Pradesh Government Irrigation Adviser M. Venkateswara Rao, Engineer-in-Chief K. Narasimhamurthy, Superintending Engineer R. Ramachandra Rao, and representatives of the executing agency, MEIL, including General Manager A. Gangadhar and Deputy General Manager Murali Pammi, were present during inspections and discussions, addressing queries raised by the experts.
On the final day, the experts examined compacted soil at Gap-1, carried out removal tests to assess consolidation and stability, and inspected ongoing construction works. The visit concluded with a comprehensive review of field observations and project progress.
Published – January 21, 2026 08:10 pm IST
