Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is currently campaigning in Telangana visited the Kaleshwaram irrigation project and inspected the Medigadda Lakshmi Barrage on Thursday, November 2.
Inspecting the sagging pillars, Rahul took an aerial view of Medigadda from a chopper. He was accompanied by TPCC chief Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka, Sridhar Babu and Jeevan Reddy.
The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is turning into a major issue ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections. Partial sagging was reported in the Laxmi barrage of Medigadda, ten days ago, prompting the Center to appoint a team and probe the damage.
On Wednesday, leaks were reported at two gates of the Annaram barrage.
KCR used Kaleshwaram as ‘ATM’, says Rahul
Before inspecting damages at Kaleshwaram, the Congress MP addressed ‘Mahila sabha’ (public gathering for women) at Ambatpally village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally.
Speaking on the occasion, Rahul lashed out at CM KCR saying that the latter had used the Kaleshwaram irrigation project as an ATM to steal Rs 1 lakh crore from people.
Rahul Gandhi further alleged that CM KCR kept inflating the cost of the project, yet failed to build the project properly.
He also promised to provide Rs 2500 per month to every woman through the Mahalakshmi scheme if Congress came to power.
Talking about the LPG cylinder price hike, the Congress MP pointed out that the price that touched the Rs 1200 mark will be brought down to Rs 500 after Congress’s win in Telangana.
Leakage in 2 Annaram Barrage gates
As repairs are underway at the Medigadda barrage, attention now shifts to the Annaram barrage of the Kaleshwaram project.
Leaks were reported at two gates of the Annaram Saraswati barrage, following which engineering officers were alerted and attempts were made to stop the leaks by using sandbags temporarily.
This happened in less than 10 days after a portion of the Lakshmi Barrage of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) caved. The leak was reported at gates 28 and 38 of the Annaram Barrage.
Currently, there is 5.71 TMCs of water. A gate has been lifted, releasing 2,357 cusecs of water downstream. The barrage was constructed with a water storage capacity of 10.87 TMC.
However, officials have claimed that there is no threat to the barrage and appealed to people not to believe the rumours.
Kaleshwaram ‘ATM’ displayed at Shadnagar
The Congress has been targeting KCR for turning Kaleshwaram into an ‘ATM’. At Shadnagar, Rahul Gandhi showcased ‘Kaleshwaram ATM’. “This is Kaleshwaram ATM in which your CM KCR has looted one lakh crores of people’s money and left the state in debt,” he said.
On the other hand, BRS working president KT Rama Rao, on Wednesday, said that Rahul Gandhi can go to Kaleshwaram and learn from the world’s largest lift irrigation project irrigating lakhs of acres.
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