No human error in submergence of motors at Kaleshwaram: Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: Telangana Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday clarified in the State Legislative Council that there was no human error in the submergence of motors at the Kaleshwaram project.

Making a statement on the floods in the state in July caused by copious rains, he lashed out at the opposition parties for their baseless allegations about the Godavari floods and their impact on the Kaleshwaram project.

Harish Rao said that it was a natural disaster that caused the submergence of the pump houses in the Medigadda and Annaram barrages. Referring to the 1986 Godavari floods, which had an inflow of 26 lakh cusecs, he said that the recent floods caused an unprecedented inflow of 29 lakh cusecs, resulting in the most severe flood in the last 500 years which led to the damage of the project.

Slamming the opposition parties for their claims that the project would not be operational for four years without water, the Finance Minister assured the House that the pump houses at Medigadda and Annaram would be restored soon. He also said that the government would not spend even one rupee on repair works of the project until the Defect Liability Period was over and the cost would be borne by the company which constructed the project.

Harish Rao said that there was no truth in the accusations of the Union ministers that the project was constructed without permissions. He asserted that all the requisite permissions were secured from the Central Water Commission for the Kaleshwaram project.

He also rebuked Nitin Gadkari's claims that the Union Government had provided all permissions to the project and fumed at Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman for her ignorance on the subject.