Hyderabad: BRS Working President K T Rama Rao on Wednesday alleged that the notice issued to party president K Chandrasekhar Rao by the judicial commission probing the Kaleshwaram irrigation project is a “diversionary tactic” by the Congress government.
Speaking to reporters in Nalgonda, he claimed that Congress MLAs and contractors themselves are talking about “20 to 30 per cent” commissions in the current government.
He alleged that the notice to KCR was an attempt to divert public attention from these corruption claims.
The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) was planned and executed during the first tenure of the BRS government when K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, was the chief minister, Harish Rao was in charge of the irrigation portfolio, and Etela Rajender was the finance minister.
The Congress government had set up the inquiry commission after coming to power. Just before the elections, the piers of two of the three barrages of the dam developed cracks, prompting calls for investigations. Questions were raised about the selection of sites, and key decisions about the three barrages – Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla, and payments which were allegedly all made by the former chief minister.
The Medigadda barrage was originally planned at Tummidihatti. Justice Ghosh examined the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), National Dam Safety Authority, and vigilance reports. The commission also conducted cross-examinations of over 100 witnesses, including officials, retired engineers, staff of contracting agencies, and IAS officers to fix responsibilities on technical, financial, and procedural issues.
Initially, the former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had been summoned by another Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (retired) L Narasimha Reddy to probe the power purchase agreements signed by the erstwhile BRS government and the construction of two thermal power plants. But Reddy was forced to resign from the commission after the Supreme Court expressed concerns over his informal interactions with the media over the inquiry. The KLIS is among those projects that had received retrospective environmental clearance struck down by the Supreme Court recently.
