Telangana ready for special Assembly session on Kaleshwaram if KCR agrees: CM
Hyderabad, July 7 (TNT): Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday said the state government was prepared to convene a special joint session of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council for a debate on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project if Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) agreed to participate.
Addressing a PowerPoint presentation on irrigation projects at Praja Bhavan, the Chief Minister asked KCR to write to the Assembly Speaker suggesting a date for the session, assuring that the government would ensure a smooth debate.
“We are ready to convene the Assembly whenever KCR desires. A joint session can be held for a comprehensive discussion on the Kaleshwaram project,” Revanth Reddy said.
The Chief Minister alleged that the previous BRS government had spent around ₹1.02 lakh crore on the Kaleshwaram project but failed to deliver the intended results.
He accused KCR, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and former minister T. Harish Rao of causing huge financial losses to the state through cost escalations in the project. The BRS has rejected similar allegations in the past.
Responding to BRS criticism that the Congress government was neglecting the Kaleshwaram project, Revanth Reddy said his government had continued several initiatives launched during the previous regime, including the use of the Secretariat and Praja Bhavan, as well as welfare schemes such as Kalyana Lakshmi, Shaadi Mubarak and Rythu Bharosa.
The Chief Minister also said the government was willing to hand over maintenance of the Kaleshwaram barrages to KCR for three years if the BRS first explained the reasons behind what he described as the project’s failures.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the Kaleshwaram project was taken up after redesigning the earlier Pranahita-Chevella project despite technical objections.
According to him, the original project envisaged irrigation for 16.4 lakh acres and had already incurred expenditure before Telangana’s formation.
He claimed that after the state’s formation, the project design was changed, its location altered and its estimated cost increased substantially without any corresponding increase in water availability or irrigated area.
The Chief Minister further alleged that the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages were constructed without adequate soil investigations and that deficiencies in planning, design, construction quality and maintenance contributed to the problems faced by the project.
He referred to engineers’ reports and the preliminary findings of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), claiming they pointed to poor construction quality, inadequate maintenance and non-compliance with prescribed norms.
He also alleged that signs of structural distress at the Medigadda barrage had been reported soon after the project was commissioned but were not addressed by the previous government.
Revanth Reddy questioned the feasibility of lifting water from the Kannepalli reservoir during periods of low inflows, saying the project depended on adequate flood flows in the Godavari River.
He said the present government was consulting technical experts to restore the project and make the infrastructure operational.
The Chief Minister also alleged that Telangana’s debt had risen to ₹8.21 lakh crore during the BRS government’s 10-year tenure.
The BRS has consistently defended the Kaleshwaram project, maintaining that it significantly expanded irrigation infrastructure in the state and accusing the Congress government of attempting to discredit one of its flagship initiatives.
TNT TS
