Telangana BJP president and Union Minister for Tourism G. Kishan Reddy, on Tuesday, said that the Centre has expressed its willingness to initiate a CBI probe into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) if the government was ready for the same.
“The BRS regime under K. Chandrasekhar Rao had resorted to several scandals, and therefore it is not interested in such a probe but it is for Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to explain why he is also not seeking a CBI probe,” he said at a press conference in Warangal.
The State’s vigilance and enforcement wing does not have the capacity to investigate the quality, planning, design or work execution lapses of the project. The department’s preliminary report had only mirrored the NDSA’s and wondered if the government was aiming only to gain political mileage without taking corrective measures. “Where is the need to visit the site again after a group of ministers had already toured?” he questioned.
Mr. Reddy pointed out that he took the initiative to invite NDSA to visit the Medigadda barrage following the collapse of piers in October last year. Despite the then government refusing to part with crucial information, NDSA experts in their preliminary report had categorically stated that the project was in a pitiable shape due to lapses in survey, planning, designing, work and maintenance. It called for immediate release of impounded water.
The response from the earlier regime and now from the Congress government to the letters written by the Centre on the project has been lackadaisical. “This government is empty rhetoric and not capable of taking any action. It is not even giving permission for a fresh visit by NDSA indicating an understanding with the BRS,” he charged.
He also criticised the BRS for holding a public meeting in Nalgonda and avoiding discussions in the Assembly and conveying ‘wrong’ signals about Centre’s plan to have control over irrigation projects. The Centre will not interfere if the states resolve the river disputes and asserted that only the revamped Krishna River Disputes Tribunal can find a solution.
Both Congress and BRS are making use of the Kaleshwaram irrigation project lapses and Krishna water dispute, respectively, to gain political traction for the Parliament elections by provoking TS people, charged Mr. Reddy.
