Harish rao gives strong reply to Nitin Gadkari over Kaleshwaram national status

Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao took strong exception to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s claim that Telangana never sought national project status for Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, the lifeline of the State.He said on Sunday the Union Minister, who went on record saying so in an interview to a local daily, should set the record straight by correcting the mistaken facts. Many a time, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, he as Irrigation Minister of the State and party MPs made several representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Minister for Water Resources urging the Centre to consider Kaleshwaram as national project.

The Chief Minister, in a letter dated February 11, 2016, requested Modi that the integrated Kaleshwaram project, comprising the Pranahita component costing Rs 4,231 crore and the Kaleshwaram component costing Rs 71,430 crore, be accorded national project status.He said the project was included in the Prime Minister’s relief package for distressed districts and the Central Water Commission accorded five clearances for its Detailed Project Report (DPR). In spite of all this, Gadkari made a statement in Lok Sabha expressing the inability of his government to give national project status to Kaleshwaram, Harish said.