Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress party’s stand on the previous BRS government’s much-touted Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) over its “lack of viability, lacunae in design and construction”, has been vindicated with the sinking of piers of the Medigadda barrage on October 21 this year, rendering the barrage inoperative at present.
A judicial inquiry will be ordered soon to probe the lapses in the KLIP constructed by the previous BRS regime by high cost borrowings as announced by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy in the State Legislative Council recently, he said, while reviewing the Medigadda fiasco at the L&T camp office near the barrage in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Friday.
Engineer-in-Chief (ENC) C. Muralidhar Rao gave a PowerPoint presentation on chronology of events on sinking of piers 18, 19, 20 and 21 of Medigadda barrage at the meeting.
Ministers D. Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy took part in the review meeting.
Speaking to the media at Medigadda barrage across the Godavari, after inspecting the damaged piers of the structure, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Pranahita-Chevella project, which was abandoned by the previous BRS government, will be taken up by re-examining the proposal to construct the barrage at Tummidihatti.
The project had viability considering cost-benefit ratio and it was originally envisaged during the then Congress government in the erstwhile United Andhra Pradesh, he said.
He added that it was taken up by the then Congress government at an estimated cost of ₹38,000 crore to create a new ayacut of 16 lakh acres. But the BRS government abandoned it and constructed the KLIP in the name of redesigning it with a political angle and other reasons by resorting to heavy borrowings, he alleged.
After the Medigadda fiasco, then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had neither visited the barrage to assess the damage nor made any statement on the incident, he charged.
Now that the Medigadda and Annaram barrages had become virtually inoperative, the KLIP, touted as the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project by the BRS, entailed enormous interest burden on the State exchequer with huge power bills, he said.
While the Central Water Commission (CWC) approved ₹80,000 crore for the KLIP, the cost of the project has gone up to ₹1.50 lakh crore, he pointed out.
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report made critical remarks on the KLIP, he said, adding that he considered the findings of the expert team of National Dam Safety Authority on the Medigadda fiasco as impartial.
In reply to my question in Parliament on July 11, 2019, the Union Minister for Water Resources and River Development said that no formal request in prescribed proforma has been received by the Telangana government for consideration of high power steering committee of the Central government constituted for implementation of national projects, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
National status
He said the Congress government will strive to get the national project status to the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation project.
The ENC should give written replies to the questions raised by the Ministers at the review meeting to make public the facts pertaining to the KLIP, the Minister said, asking the irrigation officials to furnish details of the works relating to lifting of 3 tmcft of water from the KLIP.
