Hyderabad: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the recently-damaged Medigadda barrage, with regards to cracks and pillars sinking, during his visit to the state on November 7 or 11, or else, order a CBI probe into the same.
Accusing Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of indulging in corruption with regard to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (Klis), of which the barrage is a part, Revanth also questioned Rao’s silence on the National Dam Safety Authority report, which pointed to serious design and quality flaws.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday, Revanth Reddy said Chandrashekar Rao and minister T. Harish Rao had shared the irrigation portfolio since 2014.
“Both of them redesigned the Pranahitha Chevella project as Kaleshwaram, called tenders, executed works and inaugurated Medigadda barrage in June 2019. Due to the corruption by CM and his family members and compromising on the quality of works, the Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram barrages are at risk due to sinking of pillars, cracks and leakages,” he said.
Revanth Reddy, warning of serious action once the Congress comes to power, demanded a white paper on the Klis project estimates, revised estimates and expenditure incurred. He also sought the constitution of a committee of officials from states other than Telangana to inquire into the Klis.
Alleging that the BJP government at the Centre was trying to shield Rao, he called for the removal of Rao and Harish Rao from their posts for a free and fair inquiry.
Referring to the Jal Shakti ministry report, he asked: “Why is Modi silent when he says he will not spare corruption? Modi is coming to Telangana on November 7 and 11 for BJP campaigning. Why is he not coming to see the collapsed Kaleshwaram project?”
Dubbing Chandrashekar Rao a “financial terrorist”, Revanth Reddy alleged Rao and his family had received kickbacks from the contractors by increasing the project costs sharply under the guise of revised estimates.
Citing the instance of the Sitarama project in Khammam, where the cost was pegged at Rs 270 crore at the time of award of the contract but was hiked to Rs 500 crore, Revanth Reddy said it was to benefit a company owned by Rao’s relatives. “For Klis, the project estimate was Rs 80,000 crore at the time of award of contract, but it was increased to Rs 1.5 lakh crore to loot public money,” he said.
