Kaleshwaram row: Justice Ghose steps up pace of information gathering exercise

As the State government is expected the investigation to be completed within 100 days as per the timeline set for the commission, he is already into serious business. 

Hyderabad: Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, heading a judicial commission investigating into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) has engaged himself in preliminary discussions with officials in key positions and those who have spearheaded the implementation of the project as part of his information gathering exercise. As the State government is expected the investigation to be completed within 100 days as per the timeline set for the commission, he is already into serious business.

Since the NDSA team which has taken up a parallel investigation had submitted its interim report recommending special measures to be taken to prevent further damage to the barrage structures, he directed Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja to speed up the process for implementation of the repair works. The commission is likely to constitute a committee with experts who can provide information and help analyse the data pertaining to the technical and financial aspects of the project construction.

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Justice Ghose had an extensive interaction with the N Venkateswarlu, former engineer-in-chief of the project, who was involved in supervising the execution of the barrage workers initially as the chief engineer (and later as the engineer-in-chief). A note on the sequence of proceedings pertaining to the construction of the barrages was obtained from him by the commission. Other engineers-in-chief are also likely to join the exercise.