Uttam hints at judicial probe into Kaleshwaram scam

Warangal: The state government will institute a judiciary enquiry into the irregularities in the construction of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KIIS) and initiate action against all those responsible for the sinking of piers at the Medigadda barrage, said irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy.

By keeping aside the Pranahita-Chevella project which was taken up at Tummidi Hatti by then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the BRS government had constructed the Kaleshwaram project by changing its design and location and increased the financial burden on the people, he alleged.

Accompanied by ministers Duddilla Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar, MLC T. Jeevan Reddy and MLA G. Vivek, he conducted an aerial survey of the Kaleshwaram project.

They later inspected Pillars No. 19, 20 and 21 of the Medigadda barrage, which sank on October and also the Sundilla and Annaram barrages constructed under the KLIS at Ambatipally in Mahadevpur mandal of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Friday.

The ministers then inquired about the reasons for the sinking of piers, the submergence of pump houses and leakages of barrages and then held a review meeting with officials of the irrigation department and representatives of the construction agencies in Medigadda.

Earlier, the engineer-in-chief C. Muralidhar Rao gave a 108-page presentation on the project. He said that against an



estimation of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore, the KLIS was taken up to supply water to about 19.63 lakh acres of land.

They had invested around Rs 93,872 crore till date by borrowing from banks and financial companies and from the government, up to Rs 9,000 crore remained unpaid.

The ministers came heavily against the BRS government for increasing the financial burden by around Rs 15,000 crore per year.

If the project would have been constructed at Tummidi Hatti it would have been completed with a budget of around Rs 38,000 crore but the BRS government constructed KLIS and wasted public money by investing around Rs 95,000 crores which was of no use now.

The BRS government constructed the project without taking permission from the Central Water Commission (CWC). The KLIS is based on three barrages, of which one (Medigadda) is sinking and leaks and cracks have appeared at the Sundilla barrage.

They alleged that what they suspected and feared about the KLIS design, quality, viability and sustainability had come true. When the Medigadda barrage piers sank by five feet why did not then Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao visit the barrage and why he had not taken any action, they questioned.

The Congress government will not spare anyone involved in the Kaleshwaram scam, they announced.  The report will be given to the Chief Minister within three days.