Uttam Kumar Reddy demands Centre to order probe into swindling of money on Kaleswaram project

Hyderabad: Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday demanded that both BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana clarify their stand on the national project status for the Kaleshwaram project.

"Both TRS and BJP Govts must clarify as to why a project built for Rs 1.20 lakh crore and is called Asia's biggest irrigation project is not eligible to be included in the list of the National Project. If the project is not economically viable, then all those involved in its designing, construction and execution should be severely punished by ordering a high-level probe," he demanded.

Addressing media persons in New Delhi, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao should reply to the Centre's stand that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project was not eligible to get National Project status. "In a question raised by me in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweshwar Tudu has revealed that the Telangana government did not obtain the mandatory investment clearance from the Centre and therefore, the Kaleshwaram Project was not eligible to get National Project status. The reply clearly shows that neither TRS Govt in Telangana nor BJP Govt at the Centre were serious in giving national project status to Kaleshwaram project," he alleged. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the TRS Govt did not seek investment clearance for the Kaleshwaram project as its benefit-cost ratio was too low which makes it highly unviable.