Investigation into alleged irregularities in the construction of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project (KLIP) will be handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced in the Legislative Assembly Monday morning.
The decision to transfer the probe was taken after a marathon debate over PC Ghose commission report, which was tabled in the Assembly Sunday.
PC Ghose commission of inquiry into the planning and execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project had held former chief minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao responsible for what it said was “rampant procedural and financial irregularities, lack of proper planning, design flaws, construction defects and a complete absence of effective operation and maintenance”.
The one-man commission pointed out that the decision to construct barrages at Medigadda, Annaram and Sudilla was the “sole and individual decision” of KCR and then irrigation minister T Harish Rao.
The Kaleshwaram project on the Godavari is the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project. Work completed in 2019, under Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.
The project sprawls over approximately 500 km in 13 districts, with a canal network of 1,800 km.
On October 21, 2023, one of the pillars — No. 20 of block 7 — of the Medigadda Barrage sank, which led to flooding. An NDSA team examined the sunken pillar on October 25, and held an appraisal meeting with L&T, the company executing the project.
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On February 13, 2024, the Congress-led Telangana government asked the NDSA to carry out a “thorough inspection of the design and construction of the three barrages” of the project. The NDSA visited all the three barrages for inspections and study the following month. On April 29 this year, the state government announced that the NDSA had found a “lack of proper geo-technical investigations, design deficiencies, construction defects, failure of modelling studies, structural distress, absence of robust quality control, operation and maintenance failures, [and that] dam safety aspects [had been] ignored”.
Speaking in the Assembly CM Revanth Reddy said that the probe is being transferred to CBI because various interstate agencies of the central and state governments are involved in the project. Since the central public sector undertakings like WAPCOS and financial institutions like PFC and REC are involved in the design, construction and execution of the project, the government has decided that the case will be transferred to CBI, Reddy said.
