Hyderabad: Stepping up its attack on the Congress govt over the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme, a delegation of Telangana BJP MPs on Thursday met Union jal shakti minister CR Patil in New Delhi and raised concerns over the limited scope of the CBI probe, delays in undertaking repairs, and the continued suspension of pumping operations from the Kannepalli pump house amid growing concerns over water availability.The delegation, led by Union coal minister G Kishan Reddy, included MPs Eatala Rajender, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Dharmapuri Arvind, M Raghunandan Rao, G Nagesh and DK Aruna, besides MLA Palvai Harish Babu. The meeting comes against the backdrop of an ongoing political confrontation over Kaleshwaram and concerns over an El Nino-induced rainfall deficit.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Arvind questioned why chief minister A Revanth Reddy took more than a year to hand over the Kaleshwaram case to the CBI and why the probe was restricted to alleged irregularities of around Rs 8,000 crore rather than the entire project, which he claimed involved an expenditure of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore.Arvind also sought an explanation for the delay in taking up repairs despite the National Dam Safety Authority stating that repair works could be undertaken.Referring to the state govt‘s contention that pumping from the Kannepalli pump house could not resume because the NDSA had directed that the gates of the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages remain open, he said repair works should have been initiated instead. He further alleged that the CBI inquiry was confined to only three barrages and claimed that the state’s dam safety authority had been weakened.Raghunandan Rao said that farmers were waiting for water from the Kaleshwaram project and accused the Congress and BRS of having a tacit understanding on the issue. Referring to the Congress’s election promise that welfare schemes would be funded through money allegedly lost to corruption during the previous BRS govt, he questioned why the state had not sought a comprehensive CBI investigation into the entire project if it believed corruption had occurred.Another CMs’ meet on irrigation projects likelyHyderabad: Sources indicated that the Centre may soon convene another meeting of the chief ministers of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka under the chairmanship of jal shakti minister CR Patil to discuss the proposed Godavari-Cauvery river-linking project and other inter-state irrigation issues. The three chief ministers had recently shared a platform during the inauguration of the repaired Tungabhadra reservoir gate.
