Hyderabad: The fact-finding committee on check dam explosions and damages said the sand mafia were to blame for the destruction. The panel demanded the state govt take immediate action against those responsible for destroying the Tanugula and Adavi Somanpally check dams by booking police cases. They also asked irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy to repair and restore the dams at the earliest.Panel members including V Prakash, ex-chairman of Telangana Water Resources Development Corporation, visited the sites. Noted water conservationist and Waterman of India, Rajendra Singh, also concluded that the blasting of the dams was ‘man-made destruction.’ The sand mafia used gelatin sticks to blow them up.The committee earlier said check dams in Tanugula, Jammikunta Mandal of Karimnagar district, and Adavi Somanpalli, Manthani Mandal of Peddapalli district, did not collapse naturally but were deliberately destroyed. It added that the Tanugula check dam, built at 23 crore, was blown up with gelatin sticks around 10 pm on Nov 21. Irrigation officer Palakurthi Ravi filed a complaint at Jammikunta PS. The cops’ field inspection confirmed the truth. They noted that local farmers heard the explosion and identified the sand mafia as responsible.Sand mafia destroyed the Adavi Somanpalli check dam on the 17th of this month, said the panel. Debris from the explosion was evidence of the destruction. Despite a case being filed with supporting evidence regarding the Husen Miyavagu check dam explosion on Jan 16 last year, the probe remains incomplete and no culprits have been punished, the panel stated.
