Don’t let Kaleshwaram project go to seed, warns Mohan Guruswamy

Mohan Guruswamy criticises the Telangana government for delaying repairs to Medigadda barrage, warning that partisan politics over K Chandrashekhar Rao threatens the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. Farmers may face future distress if the core pumping network remains dysfunctional

Hyderabad: The debate over the future of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) has resurfaced with unusual sharpness, not from opposition benches or political rivals, but from Mohan Guruswamy, former Advisor to the Union Finance Minister and writer on politics, economy and security. His blunt words, “Not to repair is akin to the monkey cutting the nose to spite the face…” capture both the urgency and the politics around the Medigadda barrage collapse.

In a series of detailed posts on social media, Guruswamy has sounded a sharp warning on the Kaleshwaram Project, calling out the State government for delaying urgent repairs to Medigadda barrage in order to fix political blame on former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. He lamented that partisan politics was being placed above farmers’ interests, with a colossal irrigation project being allowed to languish.

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“Medigadda must be repaired to make this colossal project functional. But the State government is holding back on it to indict KCR for corruption and incompetence. Meanwhile, farmers suffer. This year we had excessive rainfall. But what about the years after? Is it right to let a giant asset go to seed to just blame the predecessor government?” he asked.

A transformative project

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, touted as the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation scheme, transformed Telangana’s arid landscape into cultivable farmland. Spread across 13 districts, the project envisages lifting and channelling 240 TMC of Godavari waters, stabilising nearly 18 lakh acres of farmland and providing water for drinking and industrial use. Its centrepiece reservoirs like Kondapochamma Sagar, Mallanna Sagar and others became symbols of Telangana’s rapid agrarian turnaround.

But an alleged sinking of Medigadda’s piers in October 2023, just before the Assembly elections, hit the system, and with the new government citing one reason after the other, repairs were stalled, leaving reservoirs like Kondapochamma Sagar and Mallanna Sagar dependent on erratic monsoons instead of Godavari inflows.

Guruswamy noted that while heavy rains this year temporarily masked the crisis, future years could leave farmers in distress if the core pumping network remains dysfunctional. Recalling a visit to Kondapochamma Sagar two years ago when it was brimming with Godavari river water pumped from Medigadda, he said it was found empty recently due to “structural failures”. Today, the reservoirs rely only on direct monsoon runoff.

“This year’s heavy rainfall has filled them, but what about the years after?” he asked, pointing to the long-term risk if Medigadda remains unrepaired.

What makes Guruswamy’s critique significant is his consistency. While criticising Chandrashekhar Rao over the alleged inflated costs and corruption, he has repeatedly acknowledged the transformative impact of the former Chief Minister’s “obsession with water”. Chandrashekhar Rao would be remembered by history as the man who dared to make Telangana green.

Guruswamy also recalled his own earlier visits to Kondapochamma Sagar, describing how parched scrubland near Pamulaparthi, once synonymous with scarcity, was transformed into a vast water body. He juxtaposed alleged cost escalations in KLIP with defence procurements like Rafale jets.

“Kondapochamma Sagar will be here for a few centuries, when the Rafale will be primitive technology for history books. The reservoir will startle you by the sheer scale of conception. No Nizam built anything like this,” he remarked, even drawing parallels with Akbar’s Fatehpur Sikri.

In his posts, Guruswamy urged the Congress government to prioritise engineering solutions over political vendetta.

“The Irrigation Minister should be focused on repairing the KLIP and let other processes fix those responsible, rather than fix people,” he asserted.