Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has announced that the judicial probe proposed into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project will commence this week and those found guilty will not be spared.
He asserted that the Congress government believes in transparency and a team of Cabinet Ministers which visited the Medigadda barrage to assess the situation would submit its report soon. The Congress government is committed to ordering a probe and holding the guilty in the irregularities accountable, he said.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy was responding to the criticism of Union Minister and State BJP president G. Kishan Reddy over the inaction of the Congress government in taking action against the guilty in the Kaleshwaram project irregularities. The allegations made by Mr. Kishan Reddy were far from truth and baseless charges were aimed at misleading the people. In fact, the TRS/BRS government in Telangana and the BJP government at the Centre collaborated for nearly 3,500 days, but Mr. Kishan Reddy was targetting the new Congress government which did not complete a month in power. “Why was the BJP silent during the past 10 years when the Kaleshwaram scam occurred?” he questioned.
The BJP government had not only helped the BRS government to secure significant loans from Central agencies and banks, but also turned a blind eye to the extensive corruption and irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, he alleged.
For instance, the Power Finance Corporation amended its memorandum of articles to provide a loan of ₹1.2 lakh crore while the Rural Electrification Corporation, another Central agency, arranged loan of ₹60,000 crore for the Kaleshwaram project. “It is unprecedented in the history of independent India that two Central agencies, designed for power-related subjects, funded an irrigation project by amending their rules,” he averred.
The Minister wondered why the Reserve Bank of India and other Central agencies remained silent when the BRS government raised significant loans for irrigation projects and wanted Mr. Kishan Reddy to clarify on the issue. The BJP leaders were also silent when the project cost was escalated from ₹80,000 crore to ₹1.27 lakh crore and the re-designing and re-engineering of the project went unquestioned with no due diligence conducted by the BJP-led Central government.
Referring to Medigadda barrage, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy advised the Union Minister “to apply some common sense” before commenting. “Why did Mr. Kishan Reddy not visit the project site after reports of the damage came in, despite being a Minister in the Union government that funded the project? The barrage sank five feet on October 21 but Mr. Kishan Reddy remained silent till the Congress government took over the reins,” he said.
He also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior BJP leaders for just talking about the project rather than ordering an inquiry by the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate. “The BJP which focusses on targeting Opposition in the States ruled by it, however, did not order a single inquiry against the government led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao despite serious allegations of corruption,” he said, adding that Kalvakuntla Kavitha, the daughter of the former Chief Minister and accused in the liquor scam, was let out without any action.
