Hyderabad
The Congress Government in Telangana seems to have taken action swiftly to investigate alleged irregularities in the execution of irrigation projects, particularly the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Government. The Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) wing teams have conducted searches of Irrigation Department offices across the State.
Multiple V&E Department teams were sent to the field from Tuesday morning to conduct searches in the Irrigation Department offices, including the offices of Engineers-in-Chief (ENCs) in Hyderabad, Ramagundam, Gajwel, and Karimnagar. Searches were also conducted at field-level offices such as Chief, Superintending, and Executive Engineers involved in the execution of projects.
According to sources, the teams were seizing files, documents, and hard disks of computers to prevent tampering. The focus of the searches is to find irregularities in both the technical (engineering) and financial aspects. Documents of project works from the pre-bid stage are being taken for investigation.
The V&E authorities were planning to seek the assistance of experts from JNTU-H in the matter of engineering aspects and chartered accountants in the case of financial aspects. It is understood that the State Government has directed the V&E Department to investigate irregularities before instituting a judicial probe, following the Irrigation Department authorities’ alleged reluctance to share details even at the review meetings conducted at the ministerial level.
Sensing the possibility of tampering with documents/records by at least some of the irrigation engineers/officials to cover any mistakes committed during the execution of projects, the V&E inquiry has been instituted first, the sources stated.
The Congress party has alleged large-scale irregularities and corruption in the execution of irrigation projects, particularly KLIP, from the beginning. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced a judicial probe into the irregularities during the first session of the Legislature last month. This announcement was reiterated later by Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka and Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy.