Telangana Govt presents P.C. Ghose Report on Kaleshwaram, sparks Opposition row

Hyderabad: The Telangana Legislative Assembly continued for the second day with the government placing the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission report on the controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project before the House.

Alongside, the government introduced important legislation including amendments to the Municipal Act, the Panchayat Raj Act, and the Allopathic Private Medical Care Establishments Bill.

Digital copies of report shared, BRS objects

The government distributed the voluminous 650-page Ghose Commission report in digital format to all legislators, providing pen drives with the complete document. Hard copies, however, were supplied only to the floor leaders of recognised parties.

This decision triggered objections from the BRS MLA Vemula Prashanth Reddy, who argued that his party members were being denied access to printed copies because party president and Leader of the Opposition K. Chandrashekhar Rao had not attended the session.

“They said because KCR did not come to the House as Leader of the Opposition, the report copy was not given to us,” he told the Assembly.

Commission flags lapses in Kaleshwaram Project

The Ghose Commission report revealed glaring deficiencies in the planning, design, and execution of the Kaleshwaram project.

It pointed out that estimates and administrative approvals were processed without adequate scrutiny and that necessary clearances from the Central Water Commission were not properly obtained.

The report further observed that the construction of the Medigadda barrage was technically unsound. The justification that Medigadda was chosen due to insufficient water at Tummidihatti was dismissed as untenable.

Instead, the Commission made it clear that the decision to construct barrages at Medigadda, Sundilla, and Annaram was taken entirely on the directives of the then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, rather than on expert advice.

Contracts and estimates under question

The report was particularly critical of the way contracts were awarded for the project. It noted that Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were not thoroughly examined before estimates were cleared. In addition, norms were relaxed to allow inflated project costs, which the Commission said ultimately benefited contractors at the expense of the state exchequer.

Municipal Act Amendment Bill introduced

On the legislative front, the government presented the Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Municipal Administration Minister Sridhar Babu told the House that there was no need for an ordinance since discussions on the subject were already in progress.

He stressed that the central aim of the amendment was to provide 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes in local body elections, a move he described as a step toward ensuring social justice.

Other bills placed before the House

In addition to the Municipal Act amendment, the government introduced the Panchayat Raj Act Amendment Bill and the Allopathic Private Medical Care Establishments Bill. Both were presented as part of the government’s reform-driven legislative agenda for this session of the Assembly.