Kaleswaram

Telangana Government seems to believe in the saying “If there is a will, there is a way.” Or so it looks at least in the case of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s pet project Kaleswaram. It is a lift irrigation project the KCR government has been trying to implement but facing innumerable hurdles from Andhra Pradesh, villagers allegedly instigated by Congress, forest and environment authorities and even from some NGOs.

Reasons for their opposition to the project vary. While AP says it is a new project and needs clearance from water management agencies under AP Reorganisation Act, others raise issues like displacement of villagers, effects on environment, etc. Though it is estimated to cost a mind-boggling amount of Rs 80,500 crores, the state government justifies massive investment in it on the ground that it will irrigate one crore acres in seven districts of Telangana.

While the TRS government is going ahead with preliminary work, brushing aside all the objections, they have become irritants in work progress. Now, with the Union Water Resources Ministry accepting Telangana contention that it is not a new but an old project known as Pranahita-Chevella, most of the objections to Kaleswaram have washed away.

In fact, Pranahita-Chevella project was conceived by the late chief minister Y Rajasekhar Reddy in 2007 as part of Jalayagnam. “If a few modifications have been made to the project to make it Telangana specific, it can’t become a new project” is the argument that has won the day.

Then, why did it take so long to realise this fact?