Kaleshwaram pumphouses to be restored by Oct-end, contractor to bear expenses: Harish

Hyderabad: Finance minister T. Harish Rao said that the pumphouses of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project (KLIS) which were submerged during the recent Godavari floods will be restored by the end of October.

Participating in a short discussion in the Legislative Council, Harish Rao lashed out at Opposition parties for trying to project natural calamity as human error and failure of TRS government.

He said the KLIS had 21 pumphouses of which two, at Medigadda and Annaram, which were adjacent to the Godavari, were submerged.

"Opposition parties are projecting it as if the entire Kaleshwaram project has got submerged. When a natural calamity of this scale occurs, it's humanly impossible to prevent it," he said.

He said the contracting agency has initiated work and the Annaram pumphouse would be restored in about a fortnight and the Medigadda pumphouse by October-end.

The government would not incur any financial burden. The contracting agency would bear the cost as per the agreement, Harish Rao said.

He took on those saying the KLIS had failed to provide irrigation water, and asked how Telangana could emerge as the top rice producer if this as so.