Hyderabad, August 26 (Maxim News): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that TRS Government was constructing the Kaleshwaram Project based on a bogus DPR (Detailed Project Report) only to loot public wealth.
Addressing the round table conference on faulty irrigation projects organised by TJAC at Hotel Taj Deccan on Sunday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the very foundation of argument of shifting the project from Tummadihatti to Medigadda was wrong and it was done with some ulterior motives. Describing Kaleshwaram Project as a huge mistake, he said nearly Rs. 1 lakh crore of public money has been wasted through a bogus DPR which openly lied on availability of water and other factors. He said it was all done with a criminal intent to cheat the people. He said a team of engineers had submitted a report advising the State Government against constructing the project at Medigadda due to non-availability of water. However, the report was ignored and a bogus DPR was used to go ahead with project and shockingly, Rs. 85,000 crore loans were procured from different banks for the project.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also described the decision to reduce the FRL from originally proposed 152 metres to 148 metres was a historical blunder which would keep hurting the interest of Telangana forever. He said TRS Government preferred submergence of lakhs of acres of land in Telangana only to prevent submergence of a few thousand acres of land in Maharashtra. He said the present government has failed to convince Maharashtra Government on retaining the height to 152 metres. He said TRS Government should have acted in the same way Andhra Pradesh Government behaved in constructing Polavaram project wherein it gained control of seven mandals of Khammam. He said that the government made false claims in the DPR on availability of 430 TMC of water at Medigadda.
The TPCC Chief slammed the TRS Government for taking short-term high-interest loans to construct a completely unviable project based on fake DPRs. He said the project cost has been escalated two-three times using fake DPRs. The project cost and recurring costs clearly show that Kaleshwaram project is completely unviable. He said this would badly hurt the economic interest of Telangana State and future generations would have to pay for mistakes being committed by present government. He said all citizens of this country have some responsibility towards the society. Therefore, he said people should not remain silent on this open loot of public wealth.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also alleged that all democratic institutions in Telangana have been paralysed by TRS Government. “Legislature is not functioning properly; media is either being intimidated or lured and prevented from reporting the truth. I can’t speaking anything about judiciary and how executive is functioning is quite visible,” he said and appealed all the people to feel their responsibility and raise voice to protect democracy in Telangana State. He said Congress party was not against projects for drinking water and irrigation. But it would oppose projects which are being constructed using fake DPRs just to increase their cost which would consequently cause financial disaster for Telangana.
Leaders of different political parties, NGOs, retired engineers and other experts also participated in the programme. (Maxim News)
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