Revanth Reddy inflated Gandipet project cost to send money packages to Delhi bosses: KTR

BRS leader KT Rama Rao accused CM Revanth Reddy of inflating the Kondapochamma-Gandipet project cost from Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 7,400 crore. Unveiling a documentary on Kaleshwaram, he defended the project as Telangana’s pride and dismissed Congress claims of a scam.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of inflating the cost of Kondapochamma Sagar-Gandipet drinking water project by sevenfold to loot the State and send money bags to his Delhi bosses. He said the original Rs 1,100 crore plan to bring water from Kondapochamma Sagar to Gandipet was escalated to Rs 7,400 crore by shifting the source to Mallanna Sagar under the Congress regime with the sole intent of siphoning funds.

“Every child in Telangana will remember KCR — K for canals, C for check-dams, R for reservoirs,” he said, crediting the former Chief Minister with rewriting Telangana’ water history.

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Speaking after unveiling a BRS-produced documentary on the Kaleshwaram project at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao dismissed the Congress claims of Rs 1 lakh crore scam in Kaleshwaram project. He pointed out that the Medigadda barrage which was damaged had costed only Rs 4,000 crore, of which Rs 1,500 crore went into construction. The single block where pillars damaged, required Rs 300 crore to fix, and contractor L&T had already agreed to bear the cost. “Where is the scam? Where has public money been wasted?” he asked.

The BRS working president also took a swipe at the Revanth Reddy government for spending Rs 3 crore on the Kaleshwaram commissions and failing to prove its allegations, while ignoring urgent repair needs flagged in the Assembly. “When AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi asked how Godavari River water will reach Hyderabad, if Kaleshwaram project had collapsed, the Chief Minister had no answer,” he said.

Highlighting Kaleshwaram project’s engineering marvel, Rama Rao contrasted it with decades of delay in Andhra Pradesh’s Polavaram project. “Polavaram took 80 years and is still incomplete. Kaleshwaram was envisioned in 2016 and completed in less than six years,” he asserted, hailing it as the world’s largest lift irrigation project. He explained how water from Godavari River, at 80 meters above sea level, is lifted to Hyderabad at 535 meters, ensuring the city’s drinking water security for the next 50 years.

Unveiling the documentary made by BRS leader Rakesh Reddy, he appreciated the BRS leader’s efforts, stating that the documentary would be screened across Telangana to counter the Congress-BJP misinformation campaign. “Kaleshwaram is a blessing, a dream made real. We will take this message to every village and expose the lies of those trying to malign Telangana’s pride,” he added.