Hyderabad: Former irrigation minister and Congress leader Ponnala Laxmaiah alleged that the Kaleshwaram project had become a white elephant and was useful only for government publicity.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Laxmaiah quoted experts as saying that it cost Rs 1.5 crore to lift 1 tmc ft water from Medigadda to Annaram. Officials were releasing 3 tmc ft of water from Annaram which was going back to Medigadda every day. He said that the money spent to lift water from Mediga-dda to Annaram had gone waste.
Mr Laxmaiah said that the government was using the Yellampalli project as an irrigation junction under the Kaleshwaram project, and asked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao which the government had constructed the 20 tmc ft reservoir. He said it was shameful to say construction of the KLIS was over after building three small barrages and three lift irrigation projects.
