Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy termed Harish Raoâs presentation on the Kaleshwaram project as untruthful and misleading on facts and figures - only to save the partyâs skin in the projectâs fiasco.In a counter to Mr. Raoâs claims, he questioned how the project, which lifted only 162 TMC of water in five years, of which 63 TMC was let out into the sea, could possibly irrigate the claimed 22 lakh acres.âWith only 99 TMC effectively available over five years, how can they claim to irrigate 22 lakh acres? That amounts to just 10.6 TMC per year, which is enough for 1,06,000 acres annually,â Mr. Reddy said in a statement on Saturday.He also recalled that the BRS had initially celebrated the agreement with the Maharashtra government to construct the project at Tummidihatti with a grand public rally. However, they later shifted the project downstream to Medigadda with an eye on commissions, he alleged.âThe Congress had already built a 100-km-long open canal to move water via gravity from Tummidihatti to Yellampalli at virtually no power cost,â he said rejecting the argument that nothing was done by the Congress government.He pointed out that the Central Water Commission (CWC) never stated that water was not available at Tummidihatti, contradicting Mr. Harish Raoâs claim in the presentation.âHad the project been constructed at Tummidihatti, the power bill would have been just â¹1,000 crore. Instead, we are now burdened with â¹10,000 crore in annual power expenses and â¹16,000 crore in interest on loans due to K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr. Harish Raoâs greed,â he alleged.Mr. Reddy also reminded that projects such as SRSP, Yellampalli, Lower Manair, Upper Manair, and Singur were all built under successive Congress governments.Published - June 08, 2025 12:41 am IST