Kaleshwaram project is India’s biggest scam: YS Sharmila

YS Sharmila, the President of the YSR Telangana Party, is in the news for demanding a thorough probe into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project by Central agencies. The Project is the KCR government’s flagship one.

On Friday, she described the project as India’s biggest scam. “I want to say that a large part of the money earmarked for the project was siphoned off. The project has irrigated less than 1 lakh acres of land,” Sharmila added. The envisioned acreage was a whopping 18 lakh acres, she iterated.

As someone who describes herself as a proud Hyderabadi, Sharmila said that Telangana is home to her, as her family lives in the State. She also added that the BJP is a right-wing and divisive party with which she can’t ally as a secularist.

The Kaleshwaram Project has been described by independent experts and critics as a colossal waste of money. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently said that the project was grounded without preparing a detailed project report, resulting in cost escalations from Rs 40,000 Cr to Rs 1.40 lakh Cr.