Union Minister and state BJP president, G. Kishan Reddy, along with several party leaders, conducted an inspection of the Medigadda (Lakshmi) barrage, a crucial part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.
Kishan Reddy, accompanied by MP K. Laxman, MLAs Eatala Rajender, and Raghunandan Rao, reached the barrage via a helicopter from Hyderabad.
The inspection follows the recent sinking of some piers at the barrage, which prompted the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) to dispatch a team of officials to investigate.
The BJP delegation’s visit took place a day after the release of the NDSA’s report on the incident.
The NDSA team attributed the pier sinking to a combination of factors encompassing planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance issues.
Notably, this visit by BJP leaders comes two days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with the state party chief A. Revanth Reddy and other leaders, inspected the barrage.
Speaking to reporters, Kishan Reddy expressed uncertainty about the future of the Kaleshwaram project and placed the blame on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for the sinking of the barrage’s piers.
He alleged that KCR’s ambitious project had turned out to be a failure and claimed that the state government had misused public funds for commissions and kickbacks.
Kishan Reddy stated that if the state government formally requested it, the Centre would order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe “within 15 minutes.”
He expressed the public’s concerns over the state government’s projects and policies, emphasizing the BJP’s responsibility to safeguard the project.
MP K. Laxman underscored that the Central team’s report made it clear that there had been negligence in the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of the Kaleshwaram project.
Laxman alleged that, under the pretext of redesigning, the KCR government had inflated the project cost to Rs 1 lakh crore and executed it with poor quality.
Opposition parties have consistently accused the Kaleshwaram project, considered the world’s largest lift irrigation project, of massive corruption.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the barrage on Thursday saw him allege that Chief Minister KCR and his family had misappropriated Rs 1 lakh crore of public funds.
A six-member committee, led by the member (disaster & resilience) of the NDSA, visited Telangana from October 23 to 25 to investigate the reasons behind the sinking of the Medigadda barrage’s piers.
The committee’s report indicated that, despite requesting a list of 20 data/inputs for examination, only 11 items were submitted by the Irrigation & CAD Department. According to the report, the Annaram and Sundila barrages constructed upstream of Medigadda, under the Kaleshwaram project, share similar designs and construction methodologies, rendering them susceptible to similar failure modes. Signs of distress were noted downstream of the Annaram barrage, a potential precursor to failure, prompting an urgent examination of these barrages for signs of piping or distress.
