As TS govt mulls judicial probe… : REC seeks report on Kaleshwaram

Hyderabad: The prestigious Kaleshwaram project seems to be heading towards a fresh trouble. While the state government has announced that it would constitute a judicial probe into the alleged irregularities indulged in by the previous BRS government, the Central funding agency Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has also focussed its attention on the project.

The REC has sought a report on the project following the state government’s decision to constitute an expert committee to study the quality of the Medigadda barrage and Annaram and Sundilla pumphouses under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).

The piers of Medigadda barrage had sunk and water leaked from the pumphouses at Annaram and Sundilla due to technical problems last year.

Top sources said the REC had taken serious note of the developments as the corporation had given a loan of more than Rs 30,000 crore to complete the project on a war footing during the BRS regime. The Central funding agency is unhappy over reports of poor quality of construction of the multi-crore project.

The previous BRS government had assured the corporation that the loan amount will be repaid by generating revenue from the Kaleshwaram project. The REC, which now feels that there was no possibility of generating revenue from the project due to poor quality construction, has asked the present government to furnish full details of the functioning of the Kaleshwaram project to ascertain whether it is viable or not and whether the lift scheme will survive for a long time or not.

Irrigation officials said the corporation had given loans to the previous government @10.90 per cent interest per annum. The then government had accepted all the conditions laid down by the REC.

The state government will now furnish all the details of the project to the corporation with documentary evidence on how the previous government had exploited the resources and constructed the project without following required quality standards.

The previous BRS government has also taken loans from the PFC (Power Finance Corporation), Punjab National bank, Bank of Baroda and NABARD for the project. The total loan amount was around Rs 97,000 crore. The REC also asked the government to pay monthly instalment of the interest on the loans.