Irrigation Minister says public safety will not be compromised; water storage only after NDSA clearance and expert approval.
THE JOURNALIST POST
HUZURNAGAR, July 10
Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Captain N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday alleged that remarks made by BRS MLC K. Kavitha regarding an alleged ₹1,400 crore payment from Kaleshwaram contractors had exposed what he described as the “inside story” behind the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme and intensified questions over the project’s execution.
The Minister made the remarks while addressing the media in Huzurnagar after inaugurating various development works in the Huzurnagar and Kodad constituencies.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said Kavitha’s statement had raised serious questions about the quality of construction at the Kaleshwaram project, including the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages. He alleged that if financial links existed between contractors and political leaders, they could have compromised engineering standards and construction quality. He called upon the BRS leadership, particularly former Irrigation Minister Harish Rao, to explain the allegations and clarify who allegedly benefited.
The Minister stated that the issues were not confined to the Medigadda barrage alone. He claimed that concerns related to foundations, cut-off walls, rafts, seepage, voids, and other structural defects had also emerged at the Annaram and Sundilla barrages, raising doubts over the overall integrity of the project.
Rejecting the BRS’s criticism of the Congress government, Uttam Kumar Reddy said all major decisions related to the project’s design and construction were taken during the previous BRS administration. He described attempts to shift responsibility to the present government as politically motivated.
Responding to Harish Rao’s recent statements that the project could be restored within three months, the Minister questioned the credibility of such claims, stating that those responsible for overseeing construction could not now distance themselves from the project’s failures.
The Minister also criticised demands to immediately resume pumping and water storage at the barrages, saying public safety would not be compromised for political considerations. He reiterated that the Congress government would not permit water storage until all scientific evaluations were completed and experts certified the structures as safe.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) had expressed serious concerns regarding the foundations of the three barrages and advised against storing water until comprehensive inspections, redesign, and remedial works were completed. He stressed that the government would strictly follow the recommendations of the statutory authority before taking any decision on the operation of the project.
He further alleged that relocating the Annaram and Sundilla barrages from the locations originally specified in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) raised significant technical concerns that remained unanswered. According to the Minister, detailed scientific investigations into the barrages’ structural condition are currently underway, and any future operation would depend entirely on expert approval.
The Minister further alleged that the previous BRS government pushed the state into heavy debt through irrigation expenditure while abandoning the original Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella project. He maintained that the Congress government inherited the crisis and would prioritise public safety and engineering standards before resuming any operations at the Kaleshwaram project.