Neellu, Nidhulu, Niyamakaalu (water, funds, jobs) was the defining slogan of the Telangana statehood movement spearheaded by K. Chandrashekar Rao, who was hailed as the architect of India’s youngest state and subsequently became its first Chief Minister in 2014.
No wonder that irrigation was given the top priority during the two terms he was at the helm. The most talked-about initiatives on the irrigation front was Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), inaugurated in 2019 and projected as the world’s biggest lift irrigation scheme.
Known to be the brainchild of KCR, the KLIP was positioned as a multi-purpose project and a virtual panacea for all the problems. It was envisaged to irrigate 45 lakh acres of farmland across 20 of the state’s 33 districts. The idea was to help generate power and provide water to industries, which promised to employ youth and fresh graduates.
However, in a cruel twist of irony, the flagship project that was meant to be an enduring symbol of achievement for KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has turned out to be a millstone around its neck.
The new Congress government has vowed to expose the irregularities in irrigation projects, particularly the Kaleshwaram project which has been the primary target of attack by political rivals for grave financial and technical irregularities.
A senior journalist and author, R. Avadhani had called out the government for faulty execution practices. “Everything about the execution of this mega project was wrong. Technical compliance, fiscal profligacy, adherence to ecological and topographical principles were all casualties in the process,” he said.
Experts have raised questions over the viability of the project in the long run. Three barrages, constructed as part of the mega project, have suffered structural damages.
Soon after coming to power last month, one of the first things that the Congress government did was to order a probe into the handling of the irrigation sector by the previous BRS regime.
The Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) wing of the government has been at the forefront of this investigation. Teams from the V&E wing have been actively conducting searches at various Irrigation Department offices across the state.
The Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said: “The government would soon order a judicial inquiry into the execution of Kaleshwaram project and those found guilty would not be spared.”
The probe conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has established beyond doubt that substantial amounts of the increased project cost were pocketed by the contractors, giving credence to Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party’s accusations of nexus between contractors and the BRS top brass.
“Audit analysis revealed that the re-engineered Kaleshwaram project was economically unviable and ab-initio,” said the CAG in its draft performance report submitted to the state government two years ago.
While the previous government projected a 1.51 benefit-cost ratio (BCR), CAG revealed that in reality, it would be less than 0.51.
Similarly, the interest burden was pegged at Rs 8,191 crore per annum, which is 10 percent of the project cost of Rs 81,000 crore, but with the cost escalating to Rs 1.50 lakh crore, the interest burden will jump to Rs 15,000 crore, the CAG stated.
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