The total lockdown has once again slowed down the work on construction of a barrage across Kollidam river at Mukkombu near here.
The work, being undertaken at an estimate of ₹387.60 crore, began in June 2019. The new regulator is being constructed 75 metres away from the damaged structure downstream of the riverbed. After two months of brisk work, the North East monsoon and subsequent discharge of surplus water into the Kollidam from Mukkombu put a break on the work for about one-and-half- months.
When the L&T, which is executing the project for the Public Works Department (PWD), was concentrating on work ‘below the ground level’ in March 2020, the national lockdown came into force and the work was suspended for about 45 days. The company had to bring back the migrant labourers from their native places to resume the work.
As per the plan, the company was to have to completed the work by May this year. The pace of construction work has once again been slowed down due to the effects of yet another lockdown. Unlike the first lockdown, but for a few migrant workers, most of them preferred to stay back at the work site. But the supply chain restrictions on movement of specialised machinery has impacted the work progress.
There are also issues in sourcing construction workers, who are hired from nearby villages, due to the spread of the virus. Moreover, bouts of illness caused by the COVID-19 among the workers and engineers also forced the officials to slow down the pace of construction.
“The unseasonal rains in January and the subsequent lockdown have impacted the progress of work. However, we have not stopped the work. It will gain pace in the days to come,” said a senior official of the PWD.
The official added that more than 80% of the work had been completed despite all these hurdles. Most of the works on the southern arm of the regulator had been completed. There were some works in the northern arm.
There would be no issues in water regulation when Mettur dam is opened for irrigation on June 12 as the construction had reached to the superstructure level. Chances were bright for completing the works within July, the sources said.
