Senior Journalist Remilla Avadhani's book on 'The Kaleshwaram Fiasco' unveiled

Hyderabad: A book titled ‘The Kaleshwaram Fiasco- A tale of greed and Negligence’ authored by senior journalist Remilla Avadhani, was unveiled by Telangana Media Academy chairman K Srinivas Reddy at Press Club here on Sunday.

Srinivas Reddy released the book in the presence of Telangana JAC chairman and MLC M Kodandaram and Adya Kala Musuems director Prof Jayadhir Tirumala Rao. The book authored by Avadhani has four chapters– Understanding Kaleshwaram, What Happened?, The PC Ghose Commission and The Path Forward for the reader's convenience.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly dimensions of Kaleshwaram

Participating as chief guest for the event, Kodandaram narrated the Good, the Bad and the Ugly dimensions of Kaleshwaram Project. “Water, though widely available almost everywhere, is a major contentious issue. For a variety of reasons, people fight over water regarding its use and management. One such conflict emerged in Telangana, centering around the Kaleshwaram Project,” the MLC said.

Elaborating further, Kodandaram said that the Kaleshwaram Project was a flagship program of the KCR regime; however, the project was not initiated during his tenure. It was a brainchild of Telangana engineers. The engineers aimed to address the objections raised by the government of the integrated state, and more specifically by the engineers from Andhra Region, in positions of authority, regarding the difficulty of irrigating Telangana with Godavari water, as the cultivable lands are at a higher altitude than the river.

The Telangana engineers took this as a challenge. They wanted to evolve a method to irrigate Telangana with Godavari water at a lower cost and conceived Yellampalli, located at a higher altitude as a junction box. To reduce the cost of lifting water from the Godavari, they conceived the Yellampalli Project as a confluence, as it was located at a higher elevation. With limited costs, they argued that water from the Pranahita River should be lifted and brought to Yellampalli.

From that project, it was proposed that water could be supplied to the North Telangana region without using pumps, through gravity. Owing to the pressure from the statehood movement, YS Rajashekhar Reddy, the Chief Minister of the integrated Andhra Pradesh, launched the Pranahita-Yellampalli Link Project, which was named after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. To reduce Telangana's share in Krishna waters, YS Rajashekhar Reddy planned to supply Godavari waters to the Krishna catchment area too.

Kodandaram calls Kaleshwaram project a white elephant

In the process, he turned it into a white elephant. Rather than rectifying the defects in the project planned in the integrated state, KCR redesigned it to benefit contractors. As a result, it has become a burden on the exchequer. In the redesigned scheme, the project consists of three barrages and many surge pools, aqueducts, tunnels, and pumps to lift water from Medigadda to Annaram and from Annaram to Sundilla.

Finally, from Sundilla, water would be lifted to Yellampalli. The defects in the redesigned scheme became evident when a pillar sank. The project was immediately examined by the National Dam Safety Authority, which declared that the design was defective and the quality of construction was poor. From the beginning, many questions were raised about the project. However, the government paid no attention to these observations.

As the pillar sank, the entire world began to reflect on the project. The Comptroller and Auditor General released a report on the project a few weeks after the incident, intensifying the debate. Experts from the National Dam Safety Authority visited the dam after the pillar sank, and many independent experts commented on the project. The government appointed a commission to inquire into the project, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Srinivas Reddy said Avadhani, with nearly four decades of experience in Telugu and English media, has worked with various publications. Apart from a book on Kaleshwaram, he also authored two notable books - ‘Reservoirs of Silence’ and ‘Ullu Neellu Kaneellu’ (Telugu), which explore the struggles of land oustees affected by the Mallanna Sagar Reservoir, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. Anyone who intends to take a dispassionate look at the project must read it, he said.

Prof Jayadhir stresses nationwide discussion on Kaleshwaram’s flawed design

The Kaleshwaram Project garnered not only notoriety but also criticism nationwide, according to Jayadhir Tirumala Rao. A national debate about Kaleshwaram ought to have taken place, but politics prevented it from happening. “It is necessary to denounce the project as an engineering wonder. The construction of Kaleshwaram violates environmental regulations. As a result of the Center's lower compensation, the public was compelled to relocate. The state became bankrupt as a result of Kaleshwaram's flawed design”, he claimed.