Uttam Kumar Reddy Presents Explosive Judicial Report On Kaleshwaram Scam
· KCR held solely responsible for illegal project design, financial collapse
Hyderabad, August 4: Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday unveiled the damning findings of the Judicial Commission on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, directly blaming former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for bypassing rules, ignoring expert warnings, and plunging the State into ₹84,000 crore of high-interest debt.
Addressing the media after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Uttam said, the Commission’s 660-page report, led by former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, exposed how Telangana’s most expensive project became an engineering and financial disaster due to unilateral and illegal decisions made during the BRS regime.
“We had promised the people that a judicial inquiry would be ordered into the Medigadda barrage collapse. After coming to power, we formed a Commission headed by Justice Ghose, and now that report has been submitted,” Uttam said. “It clearly says KCR acted not as Chief Minister but as an administrative head issuing direct orders that went against institutional processes.”
Quoting from the report, Minister Uttam said: “The Commission has held that there is rank irregularity from the stage of conceptualisation of the project till the administrative approvals on March 1, 2016. These decisions were not those of the government, but of individuals.”
He said the decision to shift the barrage from Tummidihatti to Medigadda was made solely by KCR, under the false pretext of water unavailability. “The report says the reason for abandoning Tummidihatti does not appear sincere or honest,” Uttam added.
The Minister reminded that even Union Minister Uma Bharti had confirmed water availability at Tummidihatti and the Central Water Commission (CWC) had approved the hydrology of the Pranahita-Chevella project in October 2014. “But KCR’s government wrote to the Centre saying there was no water, and that misrepresentation was found to be malicious by the Commission,” Uttam said.
Minister Uttam revealed that an expert committee constituted by KCR’s own government via G.O. Rt. No. 28 in January 2015 had recommended that building a barrage at Medigadda was unviable and not economical. “They clearly said the barrage should be built at Vemanapally instead. That report was deliberately kept aside,” he said.
“The Commission observes that the suppression of this report was not accidental. It was done with intent to allow the CM and Irrigation Minister to go ahead with Medigadda against all expert advice,” he noted.
Uttam Kumar Reddy laid out the timeline: “The Medigadda barrage agreement was signed in 2016. The Kaleshwaram project was inaugurated in 2019. By October 21, 2023, Pillar 20 of Medigadda’s Block-7 collapsed due to structural failure.”
He said the Commission endorsed the NDSA’s findings, which cited serious planning and design flaws. “The barrage was built on a permeable foundation, unsuitable for a storage structure. A cavity filled with soil was found instead of sand. Only 7,498 concrete samples were tested instead of the 37,000+ required,” he quoted from the report.
Minister Uttam told reporters that the Commission found that administrative sanctions for the three barrages – G.O.R.Nos. 231, 232 and 233, dated March 1, 2016, were never placed before the Cabinet. “The Commission says clearly – such approvals, bypassing the Cabinet, are a violation of business rules,” he said.
“These were massive financial decisions. But contracts were issued orally based on the CM’s instructions,” Uttam said. “Even the then Irrigation Minister’s approval was found legally invalid.”
Uttam Kumar Reddy cited the Commission’s observation that false completion certificates were issued for Medigadda in 2019 and 2021. “They were not just premature – they were illegal,” he said. “Bank guarantees were released. EOTs were granted casually. Flood banks and guide bunds were shown as ‘additional works’ and handed to the same contractors without bids.”
He said works worth ₹369 crore were added without any DPR basis, which the Commission flagged as “clinching evidence of malicious intent to benefit the agencies.”
As per the report, Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “KIPCL borrowed ₹87,449 crore with state guarantees, purely through Off-Budget Borrowings. As of September 2024, ₹29,737 crore has already been paid. The remaining principal is ₹64,212 crore, and we owe another ₹41,638 crore in interest.”
“Additional ₹1,342 crore was paid due to price escalation clauses inserted after tenders. Another ₹612 crore was paid as inflated or unjustified contractor benefits,” he added.
Uttam listed those held responsible by the Commission:
· K. Chandrashekhar Rao – “Sole decision maker” for project conceptualisation, design and execution
· T. Harish Rao (then Irrigation Minister) – Ignored expert reports and allowed project to proceed
· Etela Rajender (then Finance Minister) – Did not question financial decisions, remained passive
· S.K. Joshi, Smita Sabharwal, and Secretaries in Finance/Irrigation – Found negligent or complicit
· Engineers from CDO and Kaleshwaram divisions – Committed perjury, prepared defective designs
· Contractors like L&T, Afcons, Navayuga – Benefited illegally; directed to complete repair work at their own cost
Quoting directly from the report, Uttam said, “The Kaleshwaram project, intended as a lifeline of the State of Telangana, became a colossal waste of public money due to a profound failure of governance, planning, technical oversight, and financial discipline, driven by the individual decisions and undue influence of political leadership.”Minister Uttam said the Judicial Commission’s 660-page report was handed over to the Irrigation Department, and a three-member committee of senior officials summarised it into a 25-page document for presentation to the Cabinet. (Maxim News)
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