Hyderabad, July 22 (UNI): Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday demanded that both BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana clarify their stand on the national project status for the Kaleshwaram project.“Both TRS and BJP Govts must clarify as to why a project built for Rs 1.20 lakh crore and is called Asia’s biggest irrigation project is not eligible to be included in the list of the National Project. If the project is not economically viable, then
all those involved in its designing, construction and execution should be severely punished by ordering a high-level probe,” he demanded.
Addressing media persons in New Delhi, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao should reply to the Centre’s stand that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project was not eligible to get National Project status.“In a question raised by me in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweshwar Tudu has revealed that the Telangana government did not obtain the mandatory investment clearance from the Centre and therefore, the Kaleshwaram Project was not eligible to get National Project status. The reply clearly shows that neither TRS Govt in Telangana nor BJP Govt at the Centre were serious in giving national project status to Kaleshwaram project,”he alleged.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the TRS Govt did not seek investment clearance for the Kaleshwaram project as its benefitcost ratio was too low which makes it highly unviable. “By redesigning the original Pranahita Chevella Project to Kaleshwaram, TRS Govt increased the project cost by more than double to over Rs 1 lakh crore. TRS Govt was always hesitant to answer real questions on the,exact capital cost, operational cost, cost-benefit ratio, viability and justification of taking high-cost loans for the Kaleshwaram Project. Consequently, thousands of crores of public money was looted by TRS leaders to build such an unviable project that it does not qualifyto be called a National Project,” he alleged. He said several experts had pointed out that Kaleshwaram would ruin Telangana’s economy due to its non-viability. As per the original Detailed Project Report (DPR), the project cost was estimated to be around Rs 80,000 crore for Phase-I while the annual Operational & Maintenance (O&M) cost was expected to be Rs 13,923 crore. It was claimed in the DPR that the project would provide irrigation.
