Kaleshwaram A Collective Decision: BRS

BRS MLA and former irrigation minister Harish Rao today defended the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) against the "unfounded accusations" from the Congress government.

In a presentation "Congress Conspiracies on Kaleshwaram Project - Commission Distortions, Facts" at Telangana Bhavan, he accused the Congress government and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of deliberately misrepresenting facts about the project to mislead people ahead of the upcoming local body elections.

Rao described KLIP as a major achievement, and claimed that it was developed with expert guidance, approved by the Cabinet, and sanctioned by 11 different Central agencies.

"Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is staging a political drama, fabricating reports devoid of facts to tarnish former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's image," he said.

He criticised the selective leak and the circulation of an edited version to push a one-sided narrative of the Ghose Commission's 665-page report to the media before its official release.

Defending the relocation of the original barrage site from Thummidi Hatti to Medigadda, Rao said that it was based on expert recommendations, not political motives.

"The Central Water Commission (CWC), under the previous NDA government, had stated that Thummidi Hatti could provide only 160 TMC of water. The Maharashtra government too had rejected the proposed Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 152 metres at Thummidi Hatti, making it unfeasible. This is why the site was shifted to Medigadda, identified as more practical after scientific and hydrological studies. The change was reflected in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) sanctioned by the CWC," he said.

A committee of retired engineers, in a sworn affidavit to the Kaleshwaram Commission, had confirmed Medigadda as the most technically suitable location based on a LIDAR survey by WAPCOS. The report, cited in the affidavit, noted that the earlier plan faced objections due to coal mines and topographical challenges that hindered direct water transfer.

The engineers had also advised against pumping water directly from Medigadda to Mid Manair for the same reasons. Following their recommendations, the design was modified to route water to Yellampally via Annaram and Sundilla barrages, Rao said.

Addressing claims of no Cabinet approval, the former minister produced records showing Cabinet resolutions on June 14 2016, May 27 2018 and August 1 2021 endorsing the revised design and other aspects of the KLIP.

"Why didn't the NDSA visit Polavaram, which has faced three collapses? This is clearly a politically motivated witch hunt," Rao alleged.

He also said that during the Congress' decade-long rule in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, the party had failed to secure even a single permission for the Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi scheme despite being in power at the Centre, in Andhra Pradesh and in Maharashtra.

Rao warned the Congress that once the Commission's full report was tabled in the Assembly, the BRS would expose its inaccuracies to the public.

He reiterated that the Kaleshwaram project was designed to secure Telangana's water needs for the next 100 years, executed with expert guidance and sanctioned by all necessary authorities, and vowed to defend it against political attacks.