Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief Kalvakuntala Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) is scheduled to appear before the PC Ghose Commission for questioning in the probe over the Kaleshwaram project on Wednesday, June 11, at 11:30 am.
The commission had earlier issued notices to him, former Telangana irrigation ministers Harish Rao and former finance minister and current BJP MP, Eatala Rajender.
Rajender appeared before the Commission on June 6 and stated that his role in the project was limited to releasing funds allocated in the budget.
Speaking to the media following a 40-minute questioning, Harish Rao stated that he had furnished all the documents before the commission as evidence pertaining to the project.
Harish Rao said the commission asked him about the project’s design change from Tummidihatti to Medigadda, for which he replied, saying the decision was taken after the Central Water Commission (CWC) had written to the state government, stating that there was not enough water availability at Tummidihatti.
Harish Rao noted that Kaleshwaram Project comprised 3 barrages, 15 reservoirs, 19 sub-stations, 21 pump houses, tunnels extending to 203 km, gravity canals extending to 1,531 km, 98 km long pressure mains, 141 TMC storage capacity, lifting water up to a height of 530 metre, and water consumption of 240 TMC.
Except for the sinking of two piers at the Medigadda barrage, Harish Rao said that the rest of the structures of the project were all intact.
The damage to the barrages of the Kaleshwaram project became a key issue during the 2023 assembly elections in the state.
Telangana Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy recently said the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) has labelled the Kaleshwaram project, built at a cost of over Rs one lakh crore, to be “probably” the biggest man-made disaster in the country.
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