BRS leader Harish Rao provides additional information to Ghose Commission

Hyderabad, July 11 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao on Friday met P. C. Ghose Commission, which is probing the alleged irregularities in Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project constructed during BRS rule and provided additional information.

After meeting the Commission, the former minister told media persons that he provided all the information he had to the Commission.

He said decisions regarding the barrage were taken six times in the cabinet. They were approved three times in the Assembly.

"I have submitted a report to the commission with all the information available to us," he said.

Rao said all the documents relating to the project are with the government. He had written to the Chief Secretary, Irrigation Secretary and other officials, seeking information about decisions taken in the Cabinet, but there was no response.

"We compiled whatever information we had and submitted it in the form of a note to the Commission," he said.

He said as per their information, the State Cabinet took decisions six times about Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. Documents related to the decisions taken by the Cabinet were given to the Commission.

Rao said the Assembly too had given its approval for the construction of these barrages. He claimed that the approval by the Legislature was more important than the approval by the Cabinet.

Rao said he did not know whether the government had provided the details or not.

The former minister had sought an appointment with the Commission on Thursday to provide further information

Though the Commission had given him the time, he could not meet as BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had to be admitted to the hospital.

The Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose, is probing the alleged irregularities in planning, design, construction, quality control, operation and maintenance of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.

The one-man Commission was constituted in March 2024, a few months after some piers of the Medigadda Barrage caved in.

Rao, who had served as the irrigation and finance minister during BRS rule, appeared before the Commission on June 9.

The Commission had examined him for about 40 minutes. He had later told the media that he explained the reasons for re-designing the project.

Rao told the Commission that the project redesign was done due to objections from Maharashtra and the Central Water Commission (CWC).

He explained that due to water availability issues at Thummidihatti, the project location was changed to Medigadda after a detailed survey.

Rao was minister for irrigation between 2014 and 2018 when the lift irrigation project was built across the Godavari River by the then BRS government.

KCR had also deposed before the Commission on June 11.