Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Thursday, March 5, defended the Ghose Commission report on Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in the High Court.
Representing the state government Advocate General A Sudershan Reddy and senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy stated that the commission highlighted the irregularities in the project.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin was hearing a petition filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao, senior IAS officer Smita Sabharwal and former IAS officer S.K. Joshi challenging the commission’s report and seeking orders to prevent the government from taking coercive action against them.
Counsel Niranjan Reddy argued that the Ghose Commission’s report did not question the integrity or character of the petitioners adding that the content of the report can’t be viewed as defamatory.
He also argued that an expert committee of engineers had warned that the location of the Meddigadda barrage wasn’t suitable for the Kaleshwarm project. However the BRS government went ahead with the plan.
Counsels defend government
Reddy also stated that the Congress government was right to constitute the commission for enquiry on public interest issues. According to the Ghose Commission report, the Kleshwaram project was supposed to irrigate 19.63 lakh acres at an estimated cost of Rs 81,911 crore.
However, the total expenditure later rose sharply to roighly Rs 1.47 lakh crore, placing a significant financial burden on the state treasury.
Reffering to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report, the counsel informed the court that the audit had raised concerns about the project’s financial sustainability.
According to the report, nearly Rs 7.5 lakh was spent per acre to provide irrigation. In addition, the state is paying approximately Rs 12,826 crore annually as interest on loans taken for the project.
The interest alone amounts to roughly Rs 60,000 per acre, while about Rs 50,000 per acre is spent annually on electricity required to operate the lift irrigation system. Based on these figures, the CAG report indicated that the project may not be economically viable.
The Advocate General also told the court that the project was implemented after the redesigning the previous Pranahita–Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme, which resulted in higher power consumption.
According to the report, the redesign increased the project’s annual electricity requirement by around 5,643 million units, adding nearly Rs 3,555 crore per year to the power costs.
He added that Rs 767 crore already spent on the Pranahita–Chevella project became redundant after the redesign.
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