Hyderabad, April 2026 : The Telangana government has decided to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee to deliberate on the next course of action in the case concerning alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, one of the state\u2019s most ambitious infrastructure initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the government is yet to take a final call on how to proceed in the matter. He indicated that the sub-committee will examine all legal and administrative aspects before recommending further steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister expressed concern over the delay in initiating a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), noting that it has been nine months since the state government formally requested an investigation. \u201cYou can draw your own conclusions as to why there has been no action so far,\u201d he remarked, hinting at possible delays at the central level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further revealed that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and he would personally meet the CBI Director to press for progress in the case. The state government, he said, remains committed to ensuring a thorough and impartial inquiry into the alleged irregularities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uttam Kumar Reddy also addressed recent developments in the judiciary, clarifying that the Telangana High Court has not given a clean chit to former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and former minister T. Harish Rao. He questioned the celebratory reactions from leaders of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), stating that the court had not exonerated the individuals involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the minister, the High Court upheld the validity of the commission of inquiry headed by former Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose. The commission, often referred to as the Ghose Commission, was constituted to investigate alleged irregularities in the planning, execution, and maintenance of the irrigation project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that the court dismissed key pleas filed by KCR and Harish Rao, who had sought to declare the commission illegal and quash its report. The court, he said, clearly stated that the commission was valid and that its findings remain intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the minister acknowledged that the High Court raised certain procedural concerns, particularly regarding the issuance of notices to individuals named in the report. Due to these technical issues, the court ruled that no punitive action should be taken against the petitioners solely on the basis of the commission\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite this, Uttam Kumar Reddy maintained that the verdict does not hinder a potential CBI inquiry. \u201cThe High Court\u2019s observations are limited to procedural aspects and do not invalidate the need for further investigation,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case stems from allegations of irregularities in the construction and operation of key barrages\u2014Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla\u2014under the Kaleshwaram project. Launched in 2016 by the then BRS government, the project was inaugurated in phases and has been described as one of the largest multi-stage lift irrigation systems in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 2024, the Congress-led government set up the Ghose Commission to probe various aspects of the project, including design, quality control, and financial management. The commission submitted its report on July 31, 2025, reportedly holding KCR accountable both directly and indirectly for lapses in the project\u2019s execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also named several senior officials, including former Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi and IAS officer Smitha Sabharwal, for their roles during the project\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the formation of the Cabinet sub-committee, the Telangana government is expected to take a more structured approach in deciding its next steps. As political and legal scrutiny intensifies, the focus now shifts to whether a central investigation will be initiated and how the state proceeds with accountability measures in one of its most high-profile infrastructure cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hyderabad, April 2026 : The Telangana government has decided to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee to deliberate on the next course of action in the case concerning alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, one of the state\u2019s most ambitious infrastructure initiatives. Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":116797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[143],"post_format":[],"flags":[],"class_list":["post-116796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","tag-state"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116798,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116796\/revisions\/116798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116796"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_format&post=116796"},{"taxonomy":"flags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fflags&post=116796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}