Hyderabad, Apr 22 (PTI) Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday said the High Court’s order that no action be taken against Former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and others based on findings of PC Ghose Commission on alleged irregularities in Kaleshwaram project is not an obstacle to conducting a CBI inquiry in the matter.
The petitioners, including KCR, who is also BRS president, approached the High Court seeking the quashing of the Government Order which constituted the Commission, but the court did not find fault either with the constitution of the Commission or its findings, he said.
“The government has already decided to ask the GOI for a CBI inquiry into the irregularities and failures in the Kaleshwaram project and has written to the CBI. Today’s High Court verdict is not an obstacle to the CBI inquiry. The Court has not given a clean chit to anyone,” he said in a statement.
The government would decide its further course of action after examining the full judgment, he said.
The High Court raised objections regarding certain determinations made against individuals in the judicial commission’s report, pointing out that notices were not issued to them in the prescribed format, he said.
The court granted relief to the petitioners by stating that no action should be taken against them solely based on the judicial commission’s report, the minister said.
Observing that a barrage built with thousands of crores collapsed within three years, he said the project built during the BRS government collapsed during their tenure itself.
It is the responsibility of the present government to determine the reasons and take action as per the law.
He pointed out that the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) submitted its preliminary report during the BRS regime itself, highlighting flaws in site selection, design, construction, and maintenance that led to the collapse of the barrages.
The Vigilance Commission appointed by the state government also exposed all the flaws in site selection, design, and construction of the barrages, he said.
“The Kaleshwaram project is entirely a human failure. It is the biggest man-made disaster in the country. Precious public money has been wasted. It is the responsibility of the government to fix responsibility for this huge loss,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
Meanwhile, BRS Working President K T Rama Rao said the High Court’s order is a slap on the face of the Congress government.
The High Court’s order “applied brakes to the political conspiracies” of the government, he said in a statement.
He said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who has kept the Kaleshwaram project useless for the last two years, should carry out repairs to the damaged Medigadda barrage and provide irrigation facilities to the farmers.
Welcoming the HC order, Rama Rao and other BRS leaders celebrated, and the workers burst crackers at the party headquarters here.
However, ruling Congress president in Telangana, B Mahesh Kumar Goud, said the High Court has not given any clean chit to those responsible for the alleged corruption in the project.
Goud, who spoke to reporters in Delhi, said the High Court did not find fault with either the appointment of the Commission or its report. The court has only pointed out procedural lapses in the report, he said.
The High Court has also not found fault with the reports of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) and the state’s Vigilance and Enforcement Wing over damage to the project barrages, Goud said.
BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged “compromise politics” and “quid pro quo” between CM Revanth Reddy and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), in the matter.
The state government has failed to present effective arguments in the High Court, he said.
Alleging that Revanth Reddy is trying to shield KCR, he said Congress had in the past alleged that there were irregularities to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore in the Kaleshwaram project, but the state government is now seeking a CBI probe into “irregularities” of only Rs 9,000 crore.
In a major relief to KCR and three others, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed that no action be taken against them based on findings of the PC Ghose Commission, which probed the alleged irregularities in the execution of the Kaleshwaram irrigation project.
The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is a multi-purpose project on the Godavari River in Bhupalpally district. Damage to the barrages, built during the previous BRS regime, became a major issue in the 2023 Assembly election. PTI SJR SJR ADB
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