Kaleshwaram Probe: Secretaries, retired secretaries appear before PC Ghose Commission

Some officials have reportedly opted to appear virtually for the inquiry. The commission is focusing on various aspects, including the alleged financial irregularities and technical flaws in the project’s design, planning, and execution.

Hyderabad: The Judicial Commission led by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, currently investigating alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) has focused its attention to the financial aspects involved in the construction of the project barrages.

Officials and retired officials who held key positions in the departments of Finance and Irrigation appeared before the commission and shared their insights and experiences in respect of the sanctions and approvals given for the project during their respective stints. Secretaries K Ramakrishna Rao, Smitha Sabharwal, Rahul Bojja, Vikas Raj and retired IAS officers Somesh Kumar, V Nagi Reddy, SK Joshi and Rajath Kumar were among those who responded to the call given by the Judicial commission.

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Some officials have reportedly opted to appear virtually for the inquiry. The commission is focusing on various aspects, including the alleged financial irregularities and technical flaws in the project’s design, planning, and execution.

Sriram Vedire, former adviser to the union Jal Shakti Minister and chairman of the task force on interlinking of rivers also received the call from the Commission and he will appear before it on Tuesday. The commission aims to complete its investigation within the given timeframe. The Commission has completed a major part of its probe into the technical aspects in the construction of the three barrages.

Some of the senior engineering and officials of the Irrigation Department and the representatives of the implementation agencies, who wee yet to submit their affidavits, have been asked to submit them by Tuesday. The Commission has called for the reports of the NDSA team which also probed into the structural issues of the barrages and the safety concerns involved.