Eatala blows the gaff on 3 barrages; pins blame on Harish Rao for fiasco

Hyderabad: BJP MP and former minister in BRS government Eatala Rajendar spilled the beans before Justice PC Ghose Commission inquiring into the Kaleshwaram project on Friday.

The BJP MP told the commission that the three barrages – Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla were constructed only after the approval of CWC and Technical Committee and as per the recommendations of Cabinet Sub Committee headed by the then Irrigation minister T Harish Rao.

Former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was the brain behind the Kaleshwaram, the former minister said, adding that the Maharashtra government had opposed the Tummidihatti barrage, and hence the then government took up Medigadda.

Before the start of open court, the Commission took oath from Rajender that he will tell only the truth. During the 40-minute quizzing, the commission posed a volley of questions to the MP.

Rajender replied that the cabinet has taken a decision on Kaleshwaram only on the basis of sub-committee and technical team reports. The construction of the three barrages was started after the cabinet gave its nod. He informed that after Maharashtra objected, the then CM KCR formed a sub-committee. Harish Rao was the chairman of the sub-committee, and himself and Tummala Nageswara Rao were members. The redesign was done as per the decision of the expert committee, technical committee and sub-committee. The technical committee gave many reports. Finally, the cabinet took the decision to build the three barrages.

Rajendar clarified that he was not aware of the payment of Rs 59 crore to an agency for the preparation of DPR. The cabinet gave all approvals on Kaleshwaram and Corporation was also floated to raise funds for project construction. The previous government planned to borrow funds from the corporation and repay the loans. But, the funds were not collected by the corporation. However, all the funds for the project were released from the corporation and the role of the Finance department was nothing in the entire episode. The former Finance minister also said that the irrigation department was given the powers to borrow and pay the funds.