HYDERABAD: BRS MLA and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao, who is scheduled to depose before the Commission of Inquiry on Kaleshwaram on Monday, said that the project was like a “wishing tree” for the people of Telangana.
Making a PowerPoint presentation titled “Kaleshwaram — misinformation and facts” here on Saturday, Harish claimed that so far new ayacut of 98,570 acres has been irrigated under Kaleshwaram. He said that 456 minor irrigation tanks were filled with Kaleshwaram water, providing irrigation water to 39,146 acres of new ayacut. “A total of 20,33,572 acres were irrigated using Kaleshwaram water.
But the Congress leaders are saying that not even a single acre was irrigated under Kaleshwaram,” he lamented.
The former minister played the videos of several leaders, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, current Telangana R&B Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, former CWC chairman Syed Masood Husain and others praising the Kaleshwaram project.
Explaining the reasons behind the re-engineering and shifting the source from Tummidihetti to Medigadda, he said that the Medigadda site was finalised by WAPCOS.
It’s a lifeline of state: KTR
During the PowerPoint presentation, BRS working president KT Rama Rao termed Kaleshwaram as the “lifeline” of the state. He said that the project envisioned by the then CM K Chandrashekar Rao was designed to harness every drop of Godavari water.
“KCR, a true visionary, wiped away the tears of farmers who struggled for irrigation water for decades,” Rama Rao said.
He alleged that for the past year and a half, the “Congress-BJP alliance” has relentlessly campaigned against Kaleshwaram, distorting facts to mislead the public.
He also criticised the selective scrutiny and “fabricated” report of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), pointing out its failure to investigate structural collapses in Gujarat, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. He also cited the Morbi bridge disaster in Gujarat, which claimed 140 lives, recurring bridge failures in Bihar, the SLBC tunnel collapse that killed eight workers, and the flooding of the Vattem pump house.