Telangana govt announces judicial probes into 'irregularities' in Kaleshwaram project, power projects

Former Supreme Court judge and ex-Lokpal Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose will head the judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Tuesday said former Supreme Court judge and ex-Lokpal Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose would head the judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project during the previous BRS regime.

Briefing reporters after a meeting of the state Cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Information and Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said the duration of the inquiry would be 100 days.

He also said retired Justice L Narasimha Reddy would head the inquiry into the alleged irregularities with regard to Bhadradri and Yadadri power projects.

The inquiry would also cover the power purchase, concerning the Chhattisgarh government, during the previous BRS regime, the Minister said. The duration of this probe would also be 100 days, he said.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet, in principle, decided to set up 16 corporations for the welfare of various social groups among OBCs, SCs, STs, including Mudiraj, Yadava Kurma, Munnurukapu, Padmasali, Gangaputra and Lingayat Balija.

The Cabinet also decided to establish corporations for Reddys, Vysya and others for the welfare of economically backward classes among the Other Castes.

The other corporations to be set up include Komaram Bheem Adivasi corporation and Sant Sevalal Lambadi corporation.

The Cabinet gave approval to the 'Indiramma housing scheme which enables construction of 3,500 houses in each Assembly constituency in the first phase in which as many as 4.5 lakh houses are to be built this year with an outlay of Rs 22,500 crores, an official release said.

The Cabinet meeting decided to issue 'white ration cards' (meant for the poor) to all eligible people soon.

In an initiative to empower women, the Cabinet approved earmarking 25-30 acres of land near the Outer Ring Road (ORR) here for setting up bazaars exclusively for women.

Observing that 84 per cent of the beneficiaries have received monetary benefit under the 'Rythu Bandhu' investment support scheme for farmers, the release said the percentage of beneficiaries to have received the benefit would go up to 93 per cent in the next couple of days.

The meeting asked officials to take steps to ensure that there is no drinking water scarcity during the summer season.

The damage to some piers of Medigadda barrage of Kaleshwaram project that came to light last year had snowballed into a major issue in the state.

The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) had found in November last year, following an examination, that the Medigadda barrage has been severely compromised, rendering it useless unless fully rehabilitated.