PNS|Hyderabad
Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BRS government of dismantling the state’s financial and irrigation backbone for the sake of kickbacks under the guise of the Kaleshwaram Project.
Addressing a press conference in Huzurnagar after reviewing development works in the Huzurnagar and Kodad constituencies on Saturday, Uttam said the current crisis could have been avoided had the Congress-designed Pranahita-Chevella project at Tummidihatti been completed.
“The BRS deliberately abandoned Tummidihatti as credit would have gone to the Congress. They preferred Medigadda just to inflate costs and pocket kickbacks. A project originally estimated to cost Rs 38,000 crore was inflated to over Rs 1.2 lakh crore. This greed plunged Telangana into an annual debt burden of over Rs 16,000 crore,” Uttam said.
He asserted that if the Tummidihatti Project had been executed, pending schemes like the Palamuru-Rangareddy Project, Koilsagar, Bheema, Nettampadu, KalwakurthySLBC, Dindi, Sitarama, Devadula and Gouravelli could have been finished with the remaining Rs 62,000 crore.
“Instead, they wrecked the economy and left Telangana’s irrigation system in shambles,” he said.
Uttam questioned the logic of BRS leaders now claiming that explosions damaged the Medigadda Barrage. “You were in power then. If there were blasts, why didn’t you act? Did you remember it 16 months after losing power?”
He said the construction of the three barrages was riddled with defects, and the negligence of agencies, engineers, and contractors, encouraged by the BRS’s hunger for kickbacks, led to disaster. “Kaleshwaram is a monument to BRS’s arrogance, ignorance and failure,” he added.
Uttam criticised the BRS for renaming projects like Rajiv Sagar and Pranahita-Chevella, erasing the legacy of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Dr BR Ambedkar. “What hatred does BRS have toward these national icons?” he asked.
He reaffirmed that the Justice Ghose Committee is conducting a transparent probe into Kaleshwaram, and actions will be taken based on its final report.
“The Congress Government is acting as per people’s mandate and the law,” he asserted, rejecting BRS’s attacks on the NDSA, calling it a constitutionally sound, high-standard institution.
Uttam said the Congress Government has already set the irrigation sector on the path of reform by recruiting 1,100 engineers and 1,800 field-level staff and is preparing plans to complete pending projects and release land acquisition funds.
