Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday announced a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the design and construction of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project during the previous BRS regime. Concluding his reply to the debate on the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission report at 1:40 a.m. in the Assembly, he said a central investigation was essential given the inter-state water issues involved and the role of central organisations that had approved and funded the over ₹1 lakh crore project, which suffered structural failures within three years of completion.
Revanth Reddy assured that the state government would strictly act on the commission’s recommendations, which held former BRS leadership, IAS officers, and irrigation officials responsible, and suggested criminal cases against them. “We do not want to act in haste or take unilateral decisions. The House has been taken into confidence to ensure transparency before moving ahead,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and ex-irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, the CM alleged that Kaleshwaram was designed as a vehicle for massive corruption. He accused Chandrashekar Rao of pushing a faulty design, ignoring expert warnings, and shifting the project from Tummidihatti to Medigadda “not for irrigation needs but for enrichment running into nearly ₹1 lakh crore.”
Revanth Reddy claimed Maharashtra never opposed the Pranahitha-Chevella project at Tummidihatti and had only sought a reduction in barrage height. Despite this, he said, KCR altered the design by sidelining a committee of retired engineers. These objections, he pointed out, were recorded in the Ghose Commission’s report.
Taking aim at Harish Rao, the CM said the commission specifically flagged his role in lapses, citing Page 98 of the report. He accused him of misleading the Assembly and public by suppressing facts despite Union water resources ministry approvals in 2014 confirming 205 tmc ft water availability and hydrology clearance. “When the Centre had accorded approvals, why did Harish Rao write fresh letters seeking clarifications?” he asked, terming it an attempt to justify the redesign.
Revanth demanded that misleading remarks by Harish Rao in the Assembly be expunged from records. He also alleged that BRS deliberately changed project names and locations for financial gain, remarking that if irrigation expert Vidyasagar Rao were alive, “he would have jumped into the Kaleshwaram waters after hearing these lies.”
The CM added that Harish Rao, in his own deposition before the commission, admitted helplessness in stopping his uncle KCR and brother-in-law K.T. Rama Rao from exploiting the project — a revelation, he said, that exposed BRS’s internal contradictions. He challenged Harish Rao to suggest any alternative investigative agency if he was confident of his innocence.
