All Eyes on Key Cabinet Meet on Kaleshwaram Today

 Hyderabad: The Cabinet is on Monday is expected to approve the Justice P.C. Ghose commission of inquiry’s report pinning responsibility for the irregularities in the design and execution of the Kaleshwaram project during the previous BRS regime, and initiate steps to table it in the Assembly, likely by convening a session in the second or third week of this month.

The government may subsequently initiate action against those indicted in the report, after a detailed debate in the Assembly and after seeking the views of all political parties.

On Sunday evening, irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy meet with the three-member committee of senior officials tasked to prepare a summary for the Cabinet on the commission’s 650-page report. Official sources confirmed that the summary report was finalised and will be presented for discussion during Monday’s meeting.

Sources said the summary focuses heavily on the report’s findings, which is stated to have held former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, and former finance minister Etala Rajendar (now a BJP MP) responsible for serious lapses and irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project. The commission is also understood to have recommended criminal prosecution against them.

The three-member committee includes irrigation secretary Rahul Bojja, law secretary Rendla Thirupathi and GAD secretary M. Raghunandan Rao. Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao attended Sunday’s meeting, where the final version of the summary was approved.

The Cabinet is expected to take the call on how to proceed with the commission’s recommendations, especially in light of the structural damages reported at Medigadda, Sundilla, and Annaram barrages — key components of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led Congress government is keen to act decisively on the report’s findings, which could have significant political and legal implications for BRS.