Speaking in the Assembly ahead of the visit of Ministers and MLAs to the Medigadda barrage, Revanth Reddy said Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy would table the White Paper containing all the details of irrigation projects in the House.
Published Date – 13 February 2024, 03:12 PM
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Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday said the State government would table a White Paper on irrigation projects in the Assembly in a day or two.
Speaking in the Assembly ahead of the visit of Ministers and MLAs to the Medigadda barrage, Revanth Reddy said Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy would table the White Paper containing all the details of irrigation projects in the House. The government had decided to organise a visit to Medigadda barrage so that peoples’ representatives could understand what had happened to the project and how it was going to affect the people of the State, he said.
“People do not know what has happened in the Medigadda barrage. Even MLAs are not aware of the situation. The visit will help the people know about the facts behind the damages to the barrage,” he said.
Stating that there was a need to review the vigilance report on the damage caused to Medigadda barrage, the Chief Minister said his government had ordered a vigilance inquiry into the Medigadda barrage issue and a report was submitted by the Vigilance and Enforcement Directorate and that there was a need to discuss the report in the assembly. The Chief Minister recalled that the National Dam Safety Authority had submitted a report following an inspection to Medigadda barrage and that the previous BRS government had found fault with the report.
” It is the responsibility of every member of the Legislature to know what caused the damage. There is a necessity to discuss the vigilance report in the Assembly,” he said.
The Chief Minister urged BRS MLAs, especially former Chief Minister and leader of the opposition K Chandrashekhar Rao, to join the Medigadda Barrage visit and said that since the latter played an important role in the construction of the barrage, he could explain to the people about the project better. Stating that Kaleshwaram project was described as a man-made wonder during the previous BRS regime, the chief minister said the Opposition leader should explain the facts by joining the visit to Medigadda barrage.
Commenting on the Pranahita Chevella project, Revanth Reddy said in 2008, the then government called for tenders for the construction of Pranahita Chevella project at a cost of Rs.38,500 crore, but the BRS government changed the design of the project and increased the estimates to Rs.1.47 lakh crore.
Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu said following the reports of the vigilance and dam safety officials which pointed out to some faults and irregularities in the construction of Medigadda barrage, the government had decided to take all the MLAs to the barrage site.
BRS member T Harish Rao took objection to the Chief Minister discussing issues which were not in the agenda. However, the Chief Minister said the House could discuss any issue with the permission of the Speaker.
