Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao defended the re-designing of Kaleshwaram project with barrage starting at Medigadda instead of Tummidihatti and said the decision was taken only after the Central Water Commission (CWC) indicated the unavailability of enough water at Tummidihatti and the Maharashtra government had opposed the barrage at that location.
Mr. Rao also defended the enhancement of the project cost after re-designing stating that cost for rehabilitation, acquisition of land and hike in the material costs like cement and steel had gone up enormously.
Reacts to charges
He was reacting to the charges levelled against the government by the Congress and other parties at a roundtable on the project.
The Minister also lashed out at the Congress charging that it had created hurdles for the project by filing cases at all levels and also showed some documents saying that air tickets for the petitioners were bought by the Telangana Congress secretary Cheruku Srinivas Reddy.
TJS president, M. Kodandaram, was provided all the logistics to oppose the project, Mr. Rao said, showing proof that he used the car of former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha.
Bags all permissions
“Despite all their efforts, Kaleshwaram is on its way to irrigate 20 lakh acres soon. Moreover, all permissions have been given by various agencies for the project,” he said.
Mr. Rao rejected the charges that the Pranahita Chevella project conceived by the previous government was ignored and it was re-designed only to make money. He referred to various letters written by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to the BJP government to declare Pranahita Chevella as a national project.
In fact, he went to Mumbai to discuss with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis -- seeking cooperation but got a negative response.
At the same time, the CWC too had indicated that not more than 80 TMC would be available for Telangana whereas State’s need was 160 TMC. After this indication, the Chief Minister decided to redesign the project with barrages at Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram.
Apart from this, the entire project remains the same, he said. The Minister also said the original project named after Dr. Ambedkar will continue but limited to old Adilabad district with a barrage to be constructed on Wardha river above Tummidihatti serving two lakh acres and even the cost would come down from the original ₹ 2,700 crore to ₹ 700 crore.
Operational costs
On the enhanced project cost, Mr. Rao defended saying project costs were bound to increase due to various factors. Land acquisition had increased by six times while other operational costs also shot up.
He revealed that Nagarjunasagar was started with ₹122 crore in 1954 and was finished in 2000 with ₹ 1,183 crore.
Similarly, Sriramsagar was taken up with ₹ 40 crore in 1980, was finished in 2000 --spending ₹4,300 crore. Jurala was conceived with ₹ 70 crores in 1980, was completed in 2016 --spending ₹1815 crore, he said.
