Citing Kaleshwaram, Telangana CM asks officials to go on field visits

Hyderabad, Sep (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday directed officials to conduct field visits for quality checks and said if they had not implemented the wrong decisions of the politicians, the Kaleshwaram project would not have collapsed.

He believes that the Kaleshwaram project is a model for a study by the officials for not to repeat such mistakes.

He was speaking after handing over appointment orders to 700 newly recruited Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) in the state Irrigation department

The Chief Minister stated that officials who acquire field experience will only excel in their profession.

Earlier, engineers used to go to the field inspection in the early morning and write reports. These days, the officials have stopped visiting the field. The government has already ordered the officials to conduct field visits regularly, he said.

“The previous government spent crores of rupees on the construction of the Kaleshwaram project but the structure collapsed. The officials should come out and tell who is responsible for this. Is it politicians or officials,” he said.

Revanth Reddy also remarked that the entire irrigation department has to be dissolved if the government takes action against those responsible for the Kaleshwaram fiasco.

The government will have to face criticism if action is not taken, he said and mentioned that engineers from EE and SE levels are making allegations against each other.

“Such a situation would not have arisen if the wrong decisions taken by the politicians were not implemented. The Kaleshwaram is not providing irrigation facilities even to one lakh acres even after spending one lakh crore on the lift scheme,” he said.

The Chief Minister said projects like Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam built decades ago were still intact and catering to water and electricity needs while Kaleshwaram constructed five years ago has collapsed.

He recalled that water and jobs were key issues during the movement for Telangana state. He claimed that a decade after the formation of the state, the government embarked on large-scale recruitments.

“The emotions of Telangana people are connected with water. It is your responsibility to respect the people’s emotions and utilise water judiciously for the state’s needs,” he said.

He suggested to officials to probe the reasons for not completing the pending projects for the last 10 years. He said Rs 2 lakh crore were spent on the projects but the works are still pending.