Continuing her tirade against the alleged massive irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, YSR Telangana Party chief YS Sharmila on Friday, October 21, met Comptroller and Auditor General Girija Prasad Murmu in New Delhi. Filing a complaint against the “corruption” and “embezzlement of funds” in the project for the benefit of TRS leaders and select contractors, she demanded that strict action be taken immediately, and investigation be initiated into the project that cost the exchequer around Rs 1.20 lakh crore.
Sharmila told reporters that YSR Telangana Party has been waging a battle against Chief Minister KCR and his “engineering of corruption” in the Kaleshwaram project. The party had recently filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this regard. “We already spoke to the CBI and filed a complaint recently. The CAG assured me that they will constitute an independent committee to look into this and ascertain things,” she said.
The daughter of former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy said that Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, which was originally named as Pranahita Chevella, was touted to be the lifeline of the state with irrigation potential of over 12 lakh acres, and an expenditure of Rs 38,500 crore. She alleged that after KCR came to power, he has changed the contours of the project to suit his vested interests and altered the entire structure of the project.
“The designs were changed and so was the name. Worse is the project cost, which was hiked to over a lakh crore from Rs 40,000 crore,” Sharmila said, adding that one contractor had radically gained out of this latest connivance. While these were extensively reported and opposed in the media as well as by the experts, KCR (as the CM is popularly known) did not care at all, she alleged.
“This corruption of such astronomical standards is no secret across the state. The compound value of the corruption that puts together falsified accounts, estimates with inflated numbers that are disproportionate with the true value of works, embezzlement of funds, and above all, the compromise in quality that resulted in the massive destruction of pump houses — all put together is valued over and above Rs 1 lakh crore today. This is the taxpayer's money and action should be taken against KCR and the contractors for this,” she said.
Sharmila added that the Union government's top funding institutions loaned money to the project, where the outcomes and benefits were inflated, and so were the costs. Experts have rebuffed, time and again, the “fairy-tale figures” served by KCR, such as irrigation to more than 18 lakh acres and yield increase by 900 times, she said. Almost Rs 97,449 crore were disbursed by PFC, REC Ltd, PNB Consortium, NABARD, UBI Consortium and BoB.
“We have always demanded that strict action be initiated against the Chief Minister and the contractors, and a thorough investigation be launched on a war footing. This is no more a state issue, when Rs 1.20 lakh crore and scores of central funding institutions and other central PSUs are involved,” she said, reminding that the Congress and BJP have grossly failed in taking up this aspect till date, though the Union ministers have time and again pointed at the mammoth corruption.
Watch: Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan may not have broken the surrogacy law