White paper on Irrigation shortly, says Uttam Kumar Reddy

The State government will soon come out with a white paper on the irrigation sector, Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said here on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media, he said the judicial probe announced by the State into the implementation of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation scheme (KLIS) would commence within a week.

Reiterating that the entire expenditure on rehabilitation of the Medigadda Barrage would be borne fully by the L&T company which had executed the barrage works, he said the government would not allow the guilty to go scot-free. The BRS and BJP had worked together for 3500 days. The Centre had facilitated huge loans to the State modifying the norms for lending to power and irrigation projects, he said.The BJP at the Centre was the major source of support for the State in implementing the Kaleshwaram project. The State had availed a loan



assistance of Rs 1.27 lakh crore, he said, adding that loan assistance for the irrigation component alone was Rs.60,000 crore.

He wondered how the Central government had given its concurrence when the State government sought to scale up the project cost from Rs 80,000 crore to Rs.1.27 lakh crore. The State government could avail loans on a large scale through banks and Rural Electrification Corporation. Questioning the motive behind such advances, he sought to know for himself whether the two parties in ruling, planned to loot the State together.

Union Minister G Kishan Reddy did not bother to visit the Medigadda barrage but was talking of central agencies such as the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, Uttam Kumar Reddy said, adding that BJP leaders had often likened the Kaleshwaram project to an ATM for the BRS leaders. Why did they not order a probe by Enforcement Directorate, he asked.