Hyderabad, Feb. 17 -- Telangana irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, while presenting a white paper in the Assembly on Saturday, February 17, said that the state government 'cannot initiate' new irrigation projects due to outstanding payments of Rs 10,455 crore owed to contractors by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.

The white paper also cites a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report criticising the economic viability of the Kaleshwaram Project, projecting its cost to exceed Rs 1,47,427.41 crore, a significant increase from the initially estimated Rs 81,911.01 crore.

"The CAG report indicates a poor Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), suggesting that the project is economically unfeasible, with every rupee spent yieldi...