Telangana: KCR Indicted in Kaleswaram Project ‘Irregularities'; BRS to Hold Special Assembly Session

The Wire

17 hours ago

Government
N. Rahul
According to the commission of inquiry, KCR's 'involvement and directions minutely…' is the 'cause and result of irregularities and the cause of distress to these three barrages'.
Hyderabad: In the light of a severe indictment of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao by a commission of inquiry into charges of corruption and irregularities in the construction of much-touted Kaleswaram irrigation project during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) rule, the Congress-led Telangana government has decided to convene a special session of legislature shortly to debate the followup action.
The decision was taken at an emergency cabinet meeting headed by current chief minister, A. Revanth Reddy, on Monday (August 4). Flanked by the entire cabinet, Reddy told a media conference that both Houses of the legislature will seek suggestions from all their members, including from Chandrasekhar Rao if he was available, on the way forward. The cabinet approved the report, he said.
The 665-page report of the one-man commission, comprising Justice (retired) Pinaki Chandra Ghose, a former Supreme Court judge and first Lokpal of the country, will be tabled in the assembly and the legislative council.
The commission, which submitted its report after 16 months on July 31, held Chandrasekhar Rao "directly and vicariously" accountable for the irregularities and illegalities in planning, construction, completion, operation and maintenance of three barrages of over Rs. 1 lakh crore Kaleswaram lift irrigation project. A pier of one of the three barrages of the project, which was a key component, sank and developed a huge crack from top to bottom in October 2023 and has remained abandoned since.
His 'involvement and directions minutely…' is the 'cause and result of irregularities and the cause of distress to these three barrages,' the commission noted.
The report was studied by a team of three secretary-level officers and summarised for presentation to the cabinet on Monday. The meeting, chaired by chief minister Reddy, was convened solely to discuss the commission findings and follow up action.
The commission was instituted by the Congress government in March last year, months after the party was voted to power in Telangana. It started functioning from May and cross-examined 119 witnesses, including Chandrasekhar Rao and his erstwhile cabinet colleagues T. Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender, on the basis of a large quantity of sworn affidavits, official documents and communication. Several senior bureaucrats, engineers, officials and representatives of contracting firms deposed before the commission.
The project was founded in 2016 and completed on a war footing in 2019, with several cost overruns from its initial projection of Rs 71,436 crore to Rs 1.45 lakh crore as per the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
The project was originally conceived by the previous Congress government in the name of Pranahita-Chevella link with a dam at Tummidihatti in Adilabad district. However, the BRS government, shortly after it was elected to power, shifted the site to Kaleswaram in erstwhile Karimnagar district in the name of reengineering existing projects. Pranahita is a tributary of Godavari river which had copious flood water.
A key finding of the commission, as per the condensed brief of the secretaries committee to the cabinet, was that Chandrasekhar Rao and his son-in-law Harish Rao, then irrigation minister, "intentionally have not considered the report of an expert committee".
The expert committee of five retired chief engineers, constituted in January 2015, explicitly rejected the proposal to construct a barrage at Medigadda, which eventually suffered damage, due to "prohibitive cost and time consumption". It suggested alternative sites. But, the report was "intentionally not considered" and kept in cold storage by Chandrasekhar Rao and Harish Rao.
The decision to construct the barrages at Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla (the latter two also faced seepage issues) was the "sole and individual decision of Harish Rao and Chandrasekhar Rao". There was no formal decision of the government in the form of cabinet approval.
Initial administrative approvals for the construction of the three barrages were not placed before or approved by the cabinet, thus violating government business rules.
Chandrasekhar Rao, Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender, then finance minister, who is now a BJP MP, had, however, in their deposition before the commission claimed that the project was discussed and approved by the cabinet.
Rao's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2016, seeking financial aid, mentioned the Kaleswaram project cost at Rs 71,436 crore even before WAPCOS (Water and Power Consultancy Services), a consultancy firm of the Union government, submitted its final detailed project report.
The claim of non-availability of water at Tummidihatti as the reason for shifting the barrage to Medigadda, which is the key component of the project to lift water to the other two barrages and take it to parts of the State through balancing reservoirs and canal network, "does not appear to be sincere and honest", the commission noted.
The IAS officers panel wrote in its executive summary that the commission's report concluded with a scathing indictment, finding rampant procedural and financial irregularities, lack of proper planning, design flaws, construction defects and a complete absence of effective operation and maintenance.
The report pinned significant responsibility on key political and administrative figures, particularly then chief minister Rao, for direct involvement and disregard for established procedures, resulting in colossal public expenditure and the current distress to the barrages.
The commission fixed responsibility on over a dozen officials and engineers, name-wise for various lapses that were identified. They are:
Eatala Rajender: As finance minister demonstrated "lack of commitment and integrity in safeguarding the financial and economic health of the newly formed State, pleading ignorance of crucial decisions related to the project".
S.K. Joshi, former chief secretary, who also served as principal irrigation secretary and chairman of Kaleswaram Irrigation Project Corporation Limited (KIPCL): Liable for suppressing the expert committee report, violation of business rules in administrative approvals and for the failure of KIPCL.
Smita Sabharwal, secretary to chief minister, who looked after irrigation in CMO: Found "not diligent, negligent and irresponsible in the discharge of her duties for failure to ensure business rules compliance regarding Cabinet approvals.
C. Muralidhar, retired engineer-in-chief of irrigation (now lodged in jail in an assets case): Liable for suppressing the expert committee report, providing false information to Central Water Commission (CWC) on permissions for the project, proposing malicious revised estimates and failing in operations and maintenance.
B. Hari Ram, chief engineer and KIPCL managing director (also in jail now in an assets case): Liable for suppressing the expert committee report and providing information to CWC. Despite being managing director of KIPCL, he disclaimed knowledge of the barrages.
B. Nagender Rao, engineer-in-chief (operations and maintenance): Failed absolutely in carrying out O&M duties from January 2021 onwards. Liable for perpetuating damage to all three barrages.
T. Pramila, chief engineer, State Dam Safety Organisation: Found ignorant of the basic responsibilities of her post.
At least half-a-dozen other senior engineers were also found in the wrong or deposed falsely before the commission.
The project, initially conceived at Rs 38,500 crore for Pranahita-Chevella link, landed in a massive cost overruns. It got unjustified revised administrative approvals by alleged variations due to shifting of locations of Annaram and Sundilla barrages, increased length, flood banks and design changes.
The decision to shift the location of the two barrages by a high power committee, of which Muralidhar was a member, was done after contracts were concluded and without consulting WAPCOS.
When the revised administrative approvals were further revised, the project cost went up again for reasons of increased water quantity, change in specification, design and drawings, duly incorporating additional items of work such as staff quarters, guesthouse, taxes and cost escalation.
The proposals for revised administrative approvals were made with malicious intention to unduly favour the contracting agencies and wrongfully syphoning the amount from the public exchequer.
There was absolutely no operations and maintenance of whatsoever nature, including periodical checks or inspection, pre- and post-monsoon inspection of the three barrages at any time.
Chandrasekhar Rao directed continuous impounding of water in the barrages to their full capacity for lifting water through pump houses even though the barrages are typically diversion structures with low head, not as storage structures. This continuous impounding was a major cause of distress to the barrages.
"The Chief Minister was pre-determined and bent upon constructing the barrage at Medigadda at his free choice. Authorities facilitated his decision". This was not the decision of the government but of individuals.
The barrages, designed on permeable foundations, were utilised as storage structures which is against standard practice. Crucial studies on backwaters were not done at shifted locations. The quality control aspects were observed to be inadequate.
The certificates of completion given for work at Medigadda were wrong, illegal and tainted with malice to do undue favour to contractors as work was not fully completed and defects detected.
The commission recommended recovery of Rs 6.77 crore paid to WAPCOS as its report was "brushed aside". It said the project authorities and the work agencies were hand-in-glove and acted with concerted malicious intention in pursuit of their unfair and ulterior motive to unduly benefit and make unlawful gain from the project.
At the cabinet meeting and media conference later, state irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy gave a power point presentation on the commission's report. He said the BRS government borrowed Rs 87,449 crore at high interest rates and low repayment tenures from non-banking financial institutions which had become a huge burden for the present government. The government was yet to repay Rs 1.05 lakh as principal and interest.
The minister recalled that then Union mInister for water resource, Uma Bharti, had communicated to the state government about Union government's willingness to give hydrology clearance for Pranahita-Chevella link project as 205 thousand million cubic feet (TMC ft) water which was more than the required 180 TMC ft was available at Tummidihatti. But, Chandrasekhar Rao had his own way.
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