The ₹1.20 lakh crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project has been built “irresponsibly in a hurry with a mad Tughlaq design and is a total failure” and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should take responsibility for “disregarding experts’ advice” and “not ensuring timely quality checks”, charged Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast Region G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday.
“The piers collapsing in Medigadda or Laxmi barrage has put the entire Kaleshwaram project in jeopardy, with doubts arising about the safety, security, stability, benefits and financial burden on the State as the project was built by taking hefty loans,” he told a press conference in New Delhi.
‘Govt. silent?’
Questioning the government’s silence after the damage had come to light, the Minister demanded KCR accept moral responsibility, quit his post and order a judicial probe to ferret out the truth. “The sabotage theory is being floated to fool the public and divert from the real issues of construction, design and quality lapses. This is after the Chief Minister tried to be extra clever in forcing the engineers and officials to build a useless and waste project,” he thundered.
‘ATM for KCR’
“The Medigadda barrage is the lifeline of the entire project and the piers sinking will adversely affect the reservoirs and other lifts across the project. Instead of ATW (Any Time Water) for people, it has become an ATM (Any Time Money) for the KCR regime after being showcased as an engineering marvel,” he said.
Using strong words, the TS BJP president also questioned the irrigation benefits of the project. “KCR had announced that 400 tmc will be supplied annually but in the last four years, only 150 tmc has been pumped out of which 104 tmc has been utilised for filling reservoirs like Mallannasagar and Konda Pochamma, to make them tourist spots and not meant for irrigation,” he alleged.
Further, only 57,000 acres have got water from the project, including CM’s farmhouse, though 18.25 lakh acres were supposed to be irrigated. “The Kaleshwaram project edifice was projected grandly but it is a crime that so much money has been spent without any major advantage to people either for agriculture or drinking water purposes. Can KCR explain how many acres are getting water from the project?” he asked.
The Minister charged the officials concerned of being oblivious to the damage to the barrage till the local people informed about loud sounds being heard after which the entire 10 tmc stored water was released by lifting all the gates. The Centre’s Dam Safety Authority is probing the damage but is not getting the required cooperation, he added. He also shrugged of responsibility of the Centre in monitoring the works since most funding came from its agencies, stating “we only go by State government plans and look at repayment capacity.”