Kaleshwaram started by Congress: Ponnala Lakshmaiah

Hyderabad: Former Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that the state government has been conducting a trial run for the past five days, and asked for a clarification about whether this is part of the Kaleshwaram or Pranahitha project.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, the senior Congressman said that packages 6, 7 and 8 of what is being called the Kaleshwaram project were started  in 2011 under the Congress government which spent Rs 2,200 crore on the works. He said that the TRS government merely completed these works and called it Kaleshwaram. He said through these three packages, water will come from Yellampalli to Mid Manair, and calling it Kaleswaram was wrong as it is part of the Ambedkar Pranahitha project.

He alleged that the TRS government has escalated the cost of the project from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore and changed the name.

Though Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had announced that the project would be completed in two years, it took so many years to complete even the three packages, he added.He also said that even though the works of Yellampalli Sripada Sagar project has not begun, the credit for it goes to the Congress.