Ghose panel to dig deep to find culprits

Hyderabad : The Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission is firm on going deep into the reasons for the damage to the three barrages Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram and fix the responsibility on those who are responsible for the loss to the state exchequer.

Apart from probing the role of the officials of various corporations, the Commission would also serve notices on people’s representatives, including former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao if they find any evidence against them.

The Commission is likely to summon PFC (Power Finance Corporation), REC (Rural Electricity Corporation) and Punjab National Bank consortium on funding the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme and alleged corruption in the spending of the borrowed money by the authorities.

The State Hydrology and Engineering experts committees have been asked to furnish the details of the barrages. After completing the investigation regarding the technical issues, the Commission would begin a probe into the financial aspects by issuing notices to the funding agencies.

The PFC, RFC and Punjab National Bank have funded about Rs 20,000 crore each for the Kaleshwaram project. The Commission would first study the financial viability of the lift scheme and then investigate how the then BRS government borrowed the loan from the Central lending agencies and banks. The Congress when in Opposition had alleged that the BRS government had borrowed money at higher interest rates in the name of Kaleshwaram Corporation. The Ghose Commission would also seek the details of alleged excess payments to contract agencies by escalating the barrage estimation and alleged financial irregularities in the construction of the barrages.

It also proposes to grill the state Finance wing in the management of the funds during the construction of the barrages.

The Commission would compile all the technical and financial data gathered from the contract agencies, officials and funding agencies and then hold a public hearing to see if there was any contradiction in the presentation of the facts by different stakeholders.