Rs 1,400 Cr Bribe Charge Explains Why KLIS Barrages Failed: Uttam
Uttam Kumar Reddy was addressing a press meet at Huzurnagar. “The BRS owes an explanation to the people on Kavitha’s allegations. When money is allegedly received from contractors on a quid pro quo basis, what quality of construction can the people expect.”
Hyderabad: Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday said the claim by K. Kavitha, daughter of former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, that Rs 1,400 crore had exchanged hands and reached BRS leaders from contractors who built the Kaleshwaram project, had exposed how engineering standards had been compromised.
Structural failures in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) were a result of poor-quality construction, arbitrary deviations from the approved design, and above all a contractor-politician nexus, Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
Citing Kavitha's allegation that Rs 1,400 crore was received from Kaleshwaram contractors by the BRS, he claimed this ‘inside story’ behind the project explained why Medigadda barrage collapsed, and why Annaram and Sundilla barrages were in a precarious condition.
Uttam Kumar Reddy was addressing a press meet at Huzurnagar. “The BRS owes an explanation to the people on Kavitha’s allegations. When money is allegedly received from contractors on a quid pro quo basis, what quality of construction can the people expect,” he asked.
He criticised BRS leader T. Harish Rao’s challenge that he be made the irrigation minister for three months and that he will set right the Kaleshwaram project. He also said that any decision on pumping water from Medigadda barrage would be based on the opinion of engineering experts and not on Harish Rao’s demands.
“Seeking the ministry is a politically absurd proposal. The person who was irrigation minister when the project was planned and executed, is now asking for three months to repair it. The people must decide whether such a demand is reasonable,” he said.
The fact was that Harish Rao was removed as the irrigation minister in the BRS’ second term, Uttam Kumar Reddy pointed out. “If his own leader, KCR, did not give him the irrigation portfolio, how can he now demand that the Congress government hand over the department to him,” he asked.
