Telangana CM meets PM, seeks Rs 20,000 cr for Kaleshwaram

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (pictured) on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and urged him to provide Rs 20,000 crore for the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project being built across the Godavari river.

During the hour-long meeting, the chief minister brought to the notice of the prime minister various demands pending with the Central government since the formation of the state four years ago.

Stating that Kaleshwaram is a lifeline for Telangana, Rao said the project being built at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 crore aims to irrigate 18 lakh acres across 20 districts and provide water for drinking and industrial purposes.

The chief minister told Modi that in addition to the Rs 25,000 crore budgetary provision for the project, the state government obtained Rs 22,000 crore loans from financial institutions.

He urged Modi to extend financial help of Rs 20,000 crore.

This was Rao’s first meeting with Modi since the former floated the idea of a federal front as an alternative to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief has met leaders of various regional parties in the past few months to mobilise support for the proposed front.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, submitted 10 memorandums to Modi, listing various pending issues.

According to the Chief Minister’s Office, the prime minister responded positively to the issues raised by him.

KCR told Modi that even four years after the formation of Telangana, the state is yet to have its own high court and requested one at the earliest.

The TRS chief informed him that out of 29 judges of the common high court at Hyderabad for both the Telugu states, only six are from Telangana.

“The Union Law Minister had given an assurance on the floor of Parliament to expedite the process to have a separate high court.