Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti had not promised the water grid project in its election manifesto. Sidelining other major poll promises like 2 BHK houses for poor, free 3-acre land for Dalits and KG to PG free education by allotting meagre funds for them in the Budget, the government has made the water grid project its top priority and has allotted Rs 4,000 crore for the scheme, fuelling allegations from opposition parties of siphoning crores of public funds in the name of the water grid along the lines of the Jalayagnam project during the YSR government.

The project is being taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 41,000 crore and the government has decided to invite tenders to execute the project in a phased manner.

It has already issued tenders worth Rs 1,300 crore for which contractors are seeking relaxation of norms.

Frequent changes in project designs are also creating doubts about the project. For instance, in Nalgonda district it was initially proposed to lay pipelines from the Akkampally reservoir near Nalgonda.

Later, the CM changed the design to the Srisailam project, which is too far and will require more pipelines to be laid, thereby incurring unnecessary expenditure.

Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, however, recently went back to the original design after opposition parties alleged that the design had been changed only to benefit some private pipe manufacturers.

“Taking up such a massive project with an outlay of Rs 40,000 crore without any proper scientific study itself proves the doubtful intentions of the TRS government. The project will become another Jalayagnam if the government fails to take corrective measures. When scores of balancing reservoirs with sufficient water levels exist in TS, where is the need to supply water to all the districts from the Srisailam dam?” asked former minister and senior BJP leader Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy.

He said that by coordinating with the Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply departments and utilising the existing balancing reservoirs, tap water can be supplied to every household at a cost of just Rs 8,000 crore, and over Rs 30,000 crore of public funds can be saved.