Telangana’s troubled Kaleshwaram project | A barrage of woes

On February 13, the Telangana government headed by new chief minister A. Revanth Reddy took all its ministers and legislators on a ‘study tour’ of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). Located in the state’s north, on its border with Maha­rashtra, KLIS had been a pet project of the previous chief minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao or KCR. Launched in KCR’s first term as CM , in 2014, it was meant to end the water woes of the semi-arid regions of the state. Except that it is turning out to be a Rs 1.5 lakh crore white elephant that might well fall short of delivering what KCR had promised. The February 13 expedition was for the government team to assess for itself the quality of work undertaken on the project so far.