Hyderabad: Siddipet MLA and former Irrigation minister T Harish Rao predicted that, just like Sir Arthur Cotton, the engineer who built the Dowleshwaram Barrage in Andhra Pradesh in 1852 and is treated as a demigod by the people of the Godavari delta, former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will also be remembered in history, living in the hearts of farmers who benefited from the Kaleshwaram Project.
Harish Rao reminded that the Hemmington Commission had posed 900 questions to Arthur Cotton on the construction of the Dowleshwaram Barrage despite what he had done for the benefit of farmers.
On Tuesday, 5 August, he strongly disputed the findings of the Justice PC Ghose Commission of Inquiry on the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), by giving a presentation on the summary of the final report discussed in the state cabinet on Monday, 4 August.
On the Commission holding KCR solely responsible for shifting the location of the project from Tummidihatti to Medigadda, Harish Rao once again reiterated that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had written twice to the Telangana government in 2015, informing that though there was 160 TMC water available in the Godavari River at Tummidihatti, based on 75 per cent dependability and the over-utilisation by upper riparian states, there would be only 67 TMC water availability for Telangana to utilise.
Referring to a letter written by former Union minister for water resources Uma Bharti to the Telangana government, informing about the hydrological approval given for the construction of the project at Tummidihatti, he said that in the very letter’s third page, even she had mentioned that the availability of water may not meet Telangana’s irrigation demand.
“We have also mentioned the same in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted to the Centre. The Commission questioned our sincerity, but we have been open and honest,” he asserted.
On the Commission’s report claiming that the report of the experts’ committee was suppressed, Harish Rao said that the expert committee did state in its report that construction of the barrage at Medigadda was feasible, but had also noted that pumping 160 TMC water directly from Medigadda to the Mid Manair project wasn’t desirable due to prohibited consumption of the desired quantity, and also due to the coal belt existing in that area.
“I also told the Commission the same in my deposition. The experts’ committee, in its written affidavit to the Commission, submitted that after the submission of its report, the state government dropped the idea of lifting water directly from Medigadda to Mid Manair, and decided to take it through the Godavari River to the Sripada Yellampalli Project,” Harish Rao cited the affidavit of the experts’ committee given to the PC Ghose Commission.
Harish Rao also cited the experts’ committee’s submission before the PC Ghose Commission, that, based on the lidar survey done by WAPCOS to lift 195 TMC to the Yellampalli project, the decision to construct the three barrages was taken by the state government.
“If the Commission doesn’t read the affidavit submitted by the experts’ committee and give such a report, it is a fake report, an illogical report, it is trash,” he claimed, questioning whether the Commission’s observation was wrong, or if the state government had misguided the Commission.
Harish Rao said that Commissions constituted in the past, and reports submitted with bad political intentions, have never stood in the courts of law.
He gave the examples of the Shah Commission constituted against former prime minister Indira Gandhi by the Janata Party, and a similar Commission against Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, to argue that the reports of those Commissions went nowhere.
Harish Rao claimed that cabinet approvals, the cabinet sub-committee’s ratification, assembly approvals, the then governor ESL Narasimhan’s address in the assembly, and the then finance minister Eatala Rajender’s address during the budget session, were all evidence of proper procedures followed to shift the project’s site from Tummidihatti and to build the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages.
He questioned how the chief minister started construction of the Narayanpet–Kodangal Lift Irrigation Scheme without obtaining the Centre’s approval, and without any detailed project report, by spending Rs 4,350 crore.
Harish Rao accused the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) of being selective in submitting its reports.
“NDSA should come to the state only if the government asks them to. But because there was an election code, they came right after the Medigadda pillars sinking, and submitted an initial report in 3 days. Just before the Lok Sabha election,s they submitted an interim report, and when BRS was celebrating its silver jubilee, the final NDSA report was released. This shows that these reports were part of a political conspiracy,” he alleged.
“Polavaram project got washed away thrice, causing a loss of Rs 3,000 crore. For five years, works were stalled there. Why didn’t the NDSA submit a single report on that till now? They are now saying that only because of the two piers sinking at Medigadda, action should be taken against the chief minister and the irrigation minister of Telangana. In that case, should the prime minister and the chief minister be held accountable for that because Polavaram is a national project?” he asked.
Also, reminding that when Chandrashekar Iyer was the chairman of the Polavaram Project Authority, the Polavaram project was washed away, he wondered how he could submit a report on the sinking of Medigadda as NDSA chairman.
He also questioned why chief minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy were not held responsible for the collapse of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel.
Harish Rao asserted that all components of the Kaleshwaram project were intact, except the two piers, which sank, and also cited a reply given by Uttam Kumar Reddy to MLC M Kodandaram on the floor of the Assembly, stating that the Annaram and Sundilla projects were safe.
Harish Rao asserted that if the two piers were not rebuilt by the Congress government, the BRS government would come to power and build them to irrigate the lands of farmers.
He demanded that the entire 650-page report of the PC Ghose Commission be tabled in the Telangana assembly by the state government in the coming days, and that his speech should not be interrupted by turning off the mic while he was speaking.
This post was last modified on August 5, 2025 7:11 pm