Telangana govt must do more than blame BRS. Junking Kaleshwaram project shows incompetence
For the BRS, the Kaleshwaram project is its crown jewel. It has been designed to bring drinking water and irrigation to Telangana's parched regions.
Originally called the 'Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanthi Project' and announced by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2012 before the state's bifurcation, the scheme was pegged at Rs 38,000 crore. By the time KCR inaugurated it in 2019, having renamed it 'Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project', it had doubled in cost to Rs 80,190 crore. Of course, the area it would irrigate in Telangana had also expanded. And today, the cost has gone up to Rs 1.2 lakh crore.
One of the core issues that led to the formation of Telangana in 2014 was water scarcity. So, it was not surprising when former chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi supremo K Chandrashekar Rao announced the commencement of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in 2015.
The project aims to distribute about 240 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water, of which 190 TMC will be lifted from the Godavari river basin. It also involves building reservoirs at various places, and is expected to irrigate 18.8 lakh acres of land with 165 TMC of water. It will also provide 40 TMC of drinking water (30 to Hyderabad and 10 to the Mission Bhagiratha drinking water project) and supply another 16 TMC for industrial purposes.
However, after the Congress came to power in Telangana following the 2023 Assembly elections, the project has become an albatross around KCR's neck. The former CM is facing a judicial inquiry into alleged irregularities in the project.
One of the major reasons behind this is the collapse of the Medigadda barrage under the lift irrigation project in the run-up to the 2023 elections. The Congress, then in the opposition, had promised to punish the BRS and probe into the matter. And incumbent CM Revanth Reddy has certainly kept his word. In fact, a vigilance report has indicted officials and called for action against them.
Also read: China is hypocritical on IWT. Just look at how it has maximised upstream water usage
Collapse of Kaleshwaram
Corruption or irregularities are not a new thing for Telangana or India. But as things stand, the Kaleshwaram project's future under the Congress government looks bleak. Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the project has 'collapsed', blaming the BRS for it. He added that if the original plan for Rs 38,000 crore (with the project originating at Tummidihatti village and not Kaleshwaram) was followed, then the cost would not have gone up to an alleged Rs 1.2 lakh crore now.
While it is common for ruling parties to probe into the irregularities of previous governments, Uttam Kumar's declaration of the collapse of the Kaleshwaram project is rather surprising. If the current government is bent on rectifying past mistakes, why not fix the project?
Uttam Kumar claims that the Rs 62,000 crore that was added to the original cost could have been used for other projects. But public projects are never made for profit. The cost burden is usually offset by benefits that accumulate gradually over the years. In the case of the Kaleshwaram project, it is supposed to benefit lakhs of farmers in Telangana who were promised more water once the state was formed. If the project is shelved after investing all this money, then what was the last decade spent on it for? Nothing?
However, current employees and former officials of the irrigation department gave a different explanation for why the project was shelved.
According to a senior irrigation department official, the irrigation barrage for the Pranahita Chevalla project has been built, just not at the level at which it was originally planned.
'Due to various issues at Tummidihatti [the original focal point under the Pranahita Chevella project], the barrage was shifted to Kaleshwaram. The other reason for expanding the project and shifting the focal point was due to objections from the government of Maharashtra, as there would have been more submergence in the neighbouring state, had we followed the old plans,' he said.
A former irrigation department official who worked with the previous government said that the Chaprala Wildlife Sanctuary is located near the Pranahita Chevella project, due to which its scope was limited.
'The storage capacity for the project in that area was reduced because of the sanctuary and other objections. So after expanding the project, the whole thing was divided into two parts, the other being Kaleshwaram, which is what the entire project is named after,' the former official added.
KCR would not have wanted the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh or Congress government's stamp on the project, which is why he most likely renamed it. However, beyond the technical issues, it is a fact that farmers in the state are now receiving more water.
The entire idea of the project is to avoid water wastage. The geniuses in the current government must understand that public projects like this simply cannot be junked.
When Telangana was formed, there were a lot of aspirations that had to be fulfilled. The youth wanted jobs and the farmers wanted water. The current government must do more than merely blame the BRS for problems with the Kaleshwaram project. By all means, punish the corrupt, but why deprive the state of water?
I understand that CM Revanth Reddy is currently at odds trying to financially stabilise the government, but junking everything out of political spite is rather unfortunate. The Kaleshwaram project is important for Telangana. Collapsing it, rather than fixing the project, only shows incompetence.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. He tweets @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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