Telangana Cabinet appoints retired Supreme Court judge to probe Kaleshwaram irregularities

According to Telangana Information and Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, the inquiry panel would delve into the allegations of corruption, besides other aspects of the project that had come under a cloud.

The Congress government announced in the Assembly that it would order a judicial inquiry into the Kaleshwram project irregularities against the backdrop of the sinking of the three piers of the Medigadda barrage in the Bhupalpalli district on 21 October last year. The Medigadda barrage is part of KLIS.

The Cabinet also appointed retired judge L Narasimha Reddy to inquire into the irregularities in the construction of the Yadadri and Bhadradri power plants in the erstwhile Nalgonda and Khammam districts, respectively.

The inquiry panel would also inquire into the allegations of corruption in the power-purchase deals sealed by the state government with power-generation companies in Chhattisgarh.

This inquiry panel would also have a 100-day deadline to complete its probe.

Related: ‘Undue benefit of ₹2,684 crore’, says CAG report on Kaleshwaram

Other decisions

Meanwhile, minister Srinivas Reddy also said that the Cabinet had cleared a proposal to issue fresh ration cards to eligible beneficiaries in the state.

The Cabinet also okayed the proposal to help the poor construct 3,500 Indiramma houses in each Assembly segment.

In the first phase, 4.5 lakh houses are proposed to be financed under the scheme with an outlay of ₹22,500 crore.

The Cabinet also okayed the proposal to appoint those who were declared qualified in the District Selection Committee (DSC) examination of 2008.

Those who qualified in the examination are yet to get appointment orders, which had forced them to seek redressal for their grievances in the high court and Supreme Court, the minister said.

IT Minister D Sridhar Babu said that the Cabinet cleared a proposal to empower women’s self-help groups (SHGs). Under the new scheme, the SHGs would be encouraged to market their products.

The Cabinet also approved the allotment of 25-30 acres of land along the Nehru Outer Ring Road for the SHGs from districts to bring their products and brand them.

The state government would help them in this endeavour as it wants to turn them into crorepatis.

“When the Congress was in power in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a similar women’s empowerment scheme was in force to help women earn lakhs. But now we want women to earn crores,” he said.

BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said that the Cabinet took note of the progress achieved thus far in taking up a caste census.

The meeting also decided to constitute corporations for empowering the BCs, SCs, and STs.

(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal)