Questions mount over truncated Kaleshwaram Commission report

Allegations are flying thick that the government is targeting specific individuals, while shielding others of equal rank and responsibility

Hyderabad: The Congress government’s decision to release only a truncated 60-page summary of the Justice PC Ghosh Commission’s report on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) has sparked serious criticism.

Allegations are flying thick that the government is targeting specific individuals, while shielding others of equal rank and responsibility. Notably, the report names Special Principal Secretary SK Joshi and the then Chief Minister’s Secretary Smita Sabharwal, while other top bureaucrats in Finance and Irrigation departments remain conspicuously unnamed.

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Legal and administrative experts have questioned the inconsistency. They argued that while the Commission held the then Chief Minister and Ministers responsible, it failed to mention the Chief Secretary and other top officials who were equally accountable in the administrative hierarchy.

Another point of contention is the report indicting all members of the State-Level Standing Committee (SLSC), including those who had no direct role in the project. “If the Chief Minister is accountable, why not the Chief Secretary? If the Finance Minister is named, why not the Principal Secretary concerned?” they argued.

Adding fuel to the controversy, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy admitted that the original report runs to 665 pages and the government released only a 60-page summary, prompting speculation that the omissions were deliberate. Many believe the move is aimed at defaming former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, former Ministers T Harish Rao and Eatela Rajender, and select IAS officers. Whether the findings reflect the Commission’s full intent or are politically filtered remains unknown, buried in the unreleased 600 pages.