Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project becomes major poll issue; Rahul Gandhi to visit site

Telangana: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project which has become a major poll issue in Telangana.

Congress MP will inspect the Medigadda (Lakshmi) barrage, a part of the Kaleshwaram project. Some piers of the barrage recently sunk in, prompting the Centre to send a team for the probe.

Rahul Gandhi, currently campaigning in Telangana, will fly in a chopper to the barrage at Ambatpally village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally.

The District Collector has accorded permission for a visit. Addressing election rallies on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the KCR-led government for what he called Rs 1 lakh crore corruption in the project.

Addressing an election rally at Kalwakurthy, Rahul Gandhi alleged that Chief Minister KCR kept inflating the cost of the project and even after looting Rs 1 lakh crore, did not build the project properly. He said the piers of the barrage were collapsing. He also demanded KCR to inspect the project.

Kaleshwaram ATM:

Later at Shadnagar, Rahul Gandhi showcased ‘Kaleshwaram ATM’. “This is Kaleshwaram ATM in which KCR looted Rs one lakh crores of people’s money and left the state in debt,” he said.

Congress has been targeting KCR for turning Kaleshwaram into an ‘ATM’. The Telangana Congress has been running the Kaleshwaram ATM for the last two days in Hyderabad to criticize the BRS party for allegedly looting 1 lakh crore with the construction of the Kaleshwaram project.

Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and state minister K.T. Rama Rao has said that Rahul Gandhi can go to Kaleshwaram and learn from the world’s largest lift irrigation project irrigating lakhs of acres.

Villagers on Wednesday were alerted of another barrage leak at Annaram Saraswati Barrage in Mahadevpur mandal of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. It was reported that the water leakage was noticed at gate number 28 and 38.

This is the second leakage reported in the Kaleshwaram project. On October 21, pillar number 15 to 20 of the Medigadda (Lakshmi Barrage) barrage sunk in. The National Dam Safety Authority constituted a six-member committee to inspect the water leakage and the investigation is on.

According to sources, a group of villagers in a fishing boat were seen throwing stones at the sandbags kept near the pillar.

However, Annaram Saraswati Barrage officials stated that it was routine maintenance work. A Yadagiri, Executive Engineer, Annaram Barrage said, "Our engineers observed seepage three days back and for that reason, we have taken up maintenance works. Seepage is within the permissible limits and there is no carriage of soil or sand particles. Storage levels in both Annaram and Saraswathi barrages are being reduced as a precautionary measure."