6 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Cleared by Telangana Cabinet, Ghose panel report to be tabled in Assembly
'Ex-CM ignored expert warnings, plunging state into `84K crore debt'
Meanwhile, at a press conference at the Secretariat, Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy presented the findings of the Commission. He held KCR responsible for bypassing rules, ignoring expert warnings, and plunging the state into high-interest debt of `84,000 crore.
'As promised during elections, the government formed an inquiry commission on March 1, 2024, headed by retired Supreme Court judge and ex-Lokpal, Justice PC Ghose. Over nearly 16 months, the Commission collected information from the former chief minister, ministers, public representatives, IAS officers, and others. The Commission also summoned KCR, Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender, served them notices, and recorded their statements. After analysing all the information and statements, on July 31, 2025, the Commission submitted its 660-page report to the government,' Revanth explained.
'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 bypassed institutional processes,' He added.
Quoting from the report, he said: 'The Commission held that there was 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.'
Uttam said the decision to shift the barrage from Tummidihatti to Medigadda was taken solely by KCR, under the false pretext of water unavailability. 'The report says the reason for abandoning Tummidihatti does not appear sincere or honest,' he added. He recalled that even the then 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 the KCR government wrote to the Centre saying there was no water, and that misrepresentation was found to be malicious by the Commission,' he said.
