HYDERABAD: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said that the state government will order a probe into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) by an expert committee comprising officials of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA).
The probe will help the government decide the way forward for further action on the KLIS, the future of which is at stake after the piers of the Medigadda barrage, one of its key components, caved in. The minister was speaking to reporters in the lobbies of the Legislative Assembly.
“KCR was the chief designer, chief architect and chief engineer. I was told by engineers that KCR took them in a helicopter and showed them where to construct the barrages one, two and three,” Uttam said. Criticising the former chief minister, he said that the Irrigation department alone has to pay Rs 18,000 crore towards interest on the loans which were obtained at a high interest rate, apart from unpaid bills of Rs 14,500 crore.
The Irrigation minister also ridiculed the suggestions of BRS leaders to store water in the Kaleshwaram project, asking them whether they were proclaiming themselves engineers.
When asked about the modalities of a “criminal inquiry” into KLIS, Uttam said that the government would order an investigation into the FIR filed at the behest of the BRS regime. In October 2023, a police case was filed citing suspicion of a bomb blast behind the damage to the piers. The minister said that the government doesn’t have to constitute a separate criminal inquiry, but to investigate the case that was already registered.
He said that the government also has the preliminary Vigilance and Enforcement report which would help the inquiry. Uttam said that there was a need to find out how the incident happened, and who was responsible for the massive loss to the state exchequer. The minister also said that a judicial inquiry would be constituted into the matter.
“The initial project proposed at Tummidihatti was much better. It was planned with just Rs 38,000 crore. Even if the state paid Rs 50 lakh per acre against the actual land value of Rs 5 lakh per acre, it would have come to around Rs 1,500 crore and would have led to the creation of a project with 16 lakh acres ayacut,” Uttam said. He alleged that the project cost was escalated to Rs 80,000 crore initially and Rs 1.3 lakh crore later.