Revanth Reddy at Medigadda barrage: BRS lied about Kaleshwaram project irrigation claims

Bhupalpally: “Former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has misled the people of Telangana by claiming to have provided water to one crore acres of land. Not even one lakh acres have received water despite spending close to Rs 1 lakh crores on the Kaleshwaram project,” said chief minister A Revanth Reddy.

The chief minister inspected the damaged pillars of Medigadda Lakshmi Barrage in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Tuesday.

He was accompanied by minister for Irrigation N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other Cabinet colleagues. Engineer-in-chief Sudhakar Reddy gave a PowerPoint presentation on the status transitions of the Kaleshwaram project.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLAs, MLCs and district Congress leaders were also present. A total of 1,000 people – 350 media persons – inspected the barrage and its damages closely.

Revanth Reddy said that Kaleshwaram Barrage Designed capacity -180 TMC against Pranahita Chevella Project capacity of 160 TMC but actual water filled over the last five years is shown below

Year TMC

2019-20 61.666

2021-22 31.828

2021-22 33.971

2023-23 25.971

2023-2024 8.932

162.368 TMC over all

‘BRS failed to address project’s deficiencies’

Revanth Reddy said that on October 21, 2023, the engineers notified the BRS government that the pillars of Medigadda Barrage had sunk and that the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) found deficiencies in the construction of the barrage. He said that despite all warnings the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government had utterly failed to address the issue, and added that the Kaleshwaram project shows that Rs 94 crores were spent to give water to only 98,570 acres.

“Due to these actions, the cost of electricity bills is Rs 10,500 crore every year. The amount to be spent for bank loans and other payments is Rs 25,000 crores, the chief minister said. Seepages are also found in Annaram and Sunidilla reservoirs as they were also built with the same technology used for the construction of Medigadda Lakshmi Barrage. In the coming months, the two reservoirs will also be damaged if water is stored, he added.

Politics of two rivers

The Congress party, along with party MLAs and AIMIM MLAs, travelled to the Godavari River while BRS MLAs went to Krishna River to fight for the water distribution issues of Telangana. With the politics of sharing river waters and the construction of civil infrastructure taking centre stage in the state, people are finding themselves being divided into two banks on either side of the issue.

Further, speaking at the meeting Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said, A criminal investigation will be launched on the irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project and the matter will be discussed in the Cabinet.