DC Edit | Revanth’s CBI Probe a Twin-hit

The Telangana Assembly’s midnight resolution ordering a CBI probe into the scam-ridden Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS), whose cost is pegged at Rs.1.45 lakh crore and counting, is one more step by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy towards bringing corrupt politicians and bureaucrats involved to justice, the first being the constitution of a judicial commission headed by Justice P.C. Ghose, former Supreme Court judge and India’s first Lok Pal.

For a year, Justice Ghose painstakingly checked every document on the project and questioned all the stakeholders, including former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his nephew T. Harish Rao, who headed the irrigation department when the project, whose three key barrages are now damaged, was conceptualised and grounded.

The probe panel established that the redesigning of the Pranahita-Chevella Srujala Sravanti (PCSS), conceived and grounded about two decades ago, into the KLIS was done at the whims and fancies of Chandrashekar Rao with no scientific data backing his plan. The redesigning was the root cause of cost escalation from Rs.38,000 crore to Rs.1.45 lakh crore of the project with the addition of barrages and pump houses and other features that eventually turned into a cesspool of corruption. The Comptroller and Auditor General in his report had indicated swindling of at least Rs.45,000 crore.

Contributing to the disaster in the making was the change of location of the project from Tummidihatti to Medigadda, where the unsuitable soil with coal reserves beneath unsettled the piers ironically on the eve of the Telangana Assembly elections in 2023.

The BRS supremo is attempting to scuttle further action approaching the judiciary on technical grounds.

An astute politician, Mr Revanth Reddy has done everything possible to avoid the “witch-hunt” branding while taking the issue to its logical conclusion. On the political front, he downplayed questions on the possible arrest of Mr Chandrashekar Rao, declaring that the people had already punished him and his confinement to his farmhouse was as good as being in jail.

On the administrative side, he has left the onus of proving irregularities and punishing the guilty to the CBI and the judiciary.

Amidst speculation that the BRS and BJP might reach some kind of political understanding, Mr Revanth Reddy has put a spanner in the works by holding the saffron brigade more responsible to ensure that the CBI probe — which it had asked for — is carried out to its logical conclusion against its potential ally.

Notably, the Justice Ghose commission was focused on the three damaged barrages at Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla, which cost about Rs.7,000 crore. It is to be expected that the scope of the CBI probe will be wider, and cover other, more expensive aspects like the pump houses and other constructions.