IAS officers appear before PC Ghose commission in Kaleshwaram project probe

At least 10 IAS officers appeared before the Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose commission on Monday. After Congress came to power, the government appointed the PC Ghose judicial commission to investigate allegations of large-scale irregularities in the construction of the previous BRS government's Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

One of the major narratives set by the Congress during last year's assembly polls, which saw the grand old Party overthrow the 10-year BRS regime and win power for the first time in Telangana, was the widespread corruption in the Kaleshwaram project.

These senior officials who previously worked in either irrigation or finance departments appeared before the commission, including Rahul Bojja, Vikas Raj, Smitha Sabharwal, K Ramakrishna Rao, and retired officers SK Joshi, V Nagi Reddy, Rajath Kumar and Somesh Kumar.

On March 14, this year, the state government appointed the Commission with the mandate to investigate allegations of certain irregularities in the construction of Kaleshwaram project barrages and submit its report by June 30. Later, the government extended the Commission of Inquiry's tenure by two months, from July 1 to August 31.

Former adviser to the union Jal Shakti Minister and chairman of the task force on interlinking of rivers, Sriram Vedire, is also expected to appear before the Commission on Tuesday.