The minister said that the government was committed to “salvaging some benefit for the people of Telangana from the project,” and that another meeting with National Dam Safety Authority officials, with irrigation officials from the state will be held on Monday.
“Detailed discussions will be held and we expect to take stock of future steps,” he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy was addressing a press conference in New Delhi after a meeting with NDSA officials about safety issues at all irrigation projects in Telangana. Though the Kaleshwaram issue did crop up, since detailed discussions are required, another meeting on the subject has been scheduled for Monday, he added.
“The Telangana government is following NDSA advice on issues pertaining to KLIS. All the flood protection measures suggested by NDSA at the three barrages have been completed. Some challenges were encountered in retrieving core samples from under the foundations and we have asked for a way forward on this,” he said.
He also said that as advised by the NDSA, all the gates at the three barrages are now fully open so as to allow free flow of Godavari water.
On BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao claiming on Saturday that the heavy flows passing through Medigadda barrage were a testament to the soundness of the Kaleshwaram project, Uttam said “whatever BRS says is false propaganda. They are the ones who destroyed it, now they blame us. They have wasted `one lakh crore with their greed for commissions.”
He added: “It was the chief designer, chief engineer and architect of the project KCR who decided everything. And we believe that experts in NDSA know more than what KTR does on the subject.”
Uttam Kumar Reddy also made it clear that the state government did not spend any funds on the flood protection repairs and all the associated costs were borne by the contractors, who had built the barrages.
