Hyderabad: Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy on November 4, Saturday, challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inspect the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) before “asking for votes from the people of Telangana.”
“The PM is visiting the state asking for votes many times, but why did he not inspect Kaleshwaram ever? PM should find out why the Medigadda pillars sank and should arrest all those accountable for this project,” Revanth Reddy said while addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan.
“Given his (PM Modi’s) intolerance to corruption, it’s time he acts against KCR,” Revanth said, asking, “Why is the central government not taking responsibility? Is the BJP receiving money for protection from BRS? This could explain why they aren’t questioning this flawed project. And why is the chief minister not taking action against the contractors?” Revanth said.
He also recalled that in 2021, Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy questioned the Kaleshwaram project and he was informed that the project was budgeted at Rs. 86,000 crores in 2021.
“By 2022-32, an additional Rs. 59,000 crores were added,” he said.
Revanth alleges corruption by BRS
Alleging corruption by the ruling BRS, Revanth said, “KCR and Harish Rao, overseeing the irrigation department, should be held accountable. We also demand Union irrigation minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s response on the National Dam Safety Authority’s (NDSA) report,” he said.
“Telangana Congress chief further alleged that “KCR altered project dynamics under the guise of redesign and misappropriated thousands of crores. The project’s planning, design, and quality control were overlooked, and Medigadda barrage was not constructed as planned, which led to its collapse,” he added.
What the NDSA report said
The National Dam Safety Authority’s (NDSA) six-member expert team that investigated the sinking of piers in Block-7 of Medigadda (Laxmi) barrage of the Kaleshwaram project faulted the project’s planning and design in its report, stating that the damage was caused by a combination of issues involving planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance.
“The primary reason for the failure is the settlement of the barrage raft. The piers, being monolith with it, have also settled, moved, and cracked. This could occur due to several possible reasons such as piping, wherein transportation of foundation material has occurred. Inadequate bearing capacity of the foundation material (sand), failure of upstream secant piles due to barrage load also led to the failure”, the report explained.
The committee also observed that there appears to be a ‘construction deficiency’ due to a lack of ‘stringent quality control’ during the construction of sub-surface contiguous secant piles and plinth connected between the raft and cut-offs.
“Gaps might have been created in the secant pile formation, making the barrier permeable, leading to piping and subsequent progressive failure”, the report read.
