The date of appearance of BRS President and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao before the Kaleshwaram Inquiry Commission has changed. Earlier, the Commission in its notice asked him to be present on June 5th. But, now the date of questioning has been changed to the 11th of this month as per KCR’s request.
To this extent, the PC Ghosh Commission, which is investigating the Kaleshwaram irregularities, has issued a statement. Justice PC Ghosh also issued notices to BRS MLA Harish Rao to attend for questioning on June 6 and BJP MP Etala Rajender on June 9. The notices have stated that these three should come for questioning at the commission office.
The commission will also question the then government officials on the construction of the project and dams. KCR, who was the CM and Irrigation Minister for a while, Harish Rao, who was Irrigation and Finance Minister for a while, and Etala Rajender, who was the Finance Minister for a while, worked during construction of the project.
The commission decided to hear the arguments of the three as per the principle of natural justice. The PC Ghosh commission will record the statements of the three. It is known that the state government has appointed a judicial inquiry commission to conduct an inquiry into Annaram, Sundilla and Medigadda barrages in the wake of the collapse of the Medigadda barrage.
The commission, which was formed in March 2024 under the leadership of former Supreme Court judge Justice PC Ghosh, questioned many people including senior officials of the construction, design, management, pay and accounts, quality control, finance departments, representatives of irrigation and construction companies. Now, notices have been sent to KCR, Harish Rao and Etala Rajender.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance and Enforcement has also initiated an investigation into a complaint alleging irregularities in the construction of Konda Pochamma Sagar Reservoir, which is part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme. As part of the investigation, it has summoned 63 engineers to appear for the inquiry from the 26th of this month to the 4th of next month.
The inquiry is scheduled to last for eight days and all the AEEs who worked during the construction of the reservoir, including the Engineer-in-Chief, are expected to be present. The Vigilance and Enforcement Ramachandrapuram Unit SP wrote a letter to the Engineer-in-Chief of the Irrigation Department two days ago.