KT Rama Rao (KTR) slammed the ruling Congress for politicising the Kaleshwaram project
- KTR criticised Congress for exaggerating issues related to Kaleshwaram irrigation project.
- He noted that only two of 300 pillars showed cracks, dismissing claims of a major crisis.
- KTR questioned accountability in past infrastructure failures, including the Morbi bridge collapse.
Telangana's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) in strongly worded comments slammed the ruling Congress in the state for politicising a small issue in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project to make a massive mountain out of a crack in a pillar.
KTR's comments come after his father and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) appeared before the PC Ghose Commission, which is looking into alleged irregularities in the irrigation project, one of the world's largest.
"Let me remind you, no barrage or bridge got washed away, but only two pillars out of 300 have developed cracks. That apparently has become the largest issue on the planet and a commission has been ordered," KTR said.
He questioned whether the government has fixed accountability and responsibility for over 140 deaths in the October 2022 Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat. KTR alleged the National Dam Safety Authority was missing in action when the diaphragm wall of Andhra Pradesh's Polavaram project collapsed in 2020.
"The National Dam Safety Authority was missing when a tunnel collapsed within the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project about a 100 days ago and eight people died. Bridges keep falling every week in Bihar," KTR told NDTV.
"In all these matters no serious authority comes forward and there is no investigation because it depends on whether it suits the BJP or the Congress," he alleged.
KTR said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is jealous of the work that KCR did on Kaleshwaram and so the Congress leader wants to show the project in a bad light.
"We have no concern whatsoever with respect to what kind of questioning there would be [from the commission] because the fact is that in 2014, Telangana was ranked 14th in paddy production in the country. In 2023, Telangana is number one, surpassing Punjab and Haryana. That is the magic of Kaleshwaram," KTR said.
The Kaleshwaram project is not one barrage - it has three barrages, 19 reservoirs, 21 pumping stations, hundreds of kilometres of tunnels and thousands of kilometres of gravity canals, KTR said, adding everything is intact.
"But for one barrage and two pillars within that barrage. So they made a mountain out of a molehill and say the entire system has collapsed. It is not but a frivolous imagination of a joker of a chief minister," KTR said, adding they are also not allowing the cracks to be repaired. "Do you raze your whole house just because you found a small crack on a wall?"
The commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ghose, is probing the alleged irregularities in planning, design, construction, quality control, operation and maintenance of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.
BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao appeared before the commission on Monday. The commission examined him for 40 minutes. He later told reporters that he explained the reasons for re-designing the project.
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