Medigadda sagging because of faulty design, only brainless ask not to pay power bills, say Uttam, Bhatti

HYDERABAD: Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy in a joint press conference with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday said that the sagging of the Medigadda barrage was because of faulty design.

“We have information that it was built based on a faulty design. The damage is also extensive, Very soon we will release photographs of the damage,” he said. The Deputy Chief Minister said that the Government would consider Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla as the Kaleshwaram project as the Sripada Yellampalli project was built by the Congress. He said that Wapcos (Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited,) had approved design for projects worth Rs 38,000 crore to irrigate 16 lakh acres. “The BRS Government could irrigate only 40,000 acres by spending Rs 94,000 crore,” he added. He added that the issue of sharing of river water would be taken up in the Apex Council meeting.

Also Read: Vigilance searches at Kaleshwaram offices in Irram Manzil, Medigadda, Karimnagar

The Irrigation Minister said that the earlier Government failed to hand over the projects to the KRMB. He said that the Assembly must take up extensive discussion on irrigation projects. “The seven mandals and Sileru project have gone to Andhra Pradesh after KCR took over as Chief Minister,” Uttam Kumar Reddy added.

Alleging that the BRS Government had weakened the civil supplies corporation financially, said that only people with defective minds would ask citizens not to pay power bills, Bhatti Vikramarka said countering the call given by BRS working president KT Rama Rao.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Civil Supplies Corporation was facing a debt of Rs 58,000 crore which was only Rs 3,000 crore in 2014.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that the State was in severe financial distress and the State might go for fresh loans. “When Congress was in power 2.82 crore beneficiaries were benefitting from Government schemes, but we were never in such financial mess,” he said