Hyderabad/IBNS: The re-engineering of Pranahita-Chevella project by former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has shot up the cost along with the increase in the command area, media reports said.

While the command area was increased by 50 percent, the cost of the project went up by 400 percent.

The cost has increased from 38,000 crore to Rs. 1.5 lakh crore.

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its draft report sent to the state government a couple of years ago stated as quoted by Deccan Chronicle, "Audit analysis revealed that the re-engineered Kaleshwaram project was economically unviable and ab-initio."

Reports say the cost may further spike by the time the project completes.

The CAG probe into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) has brought up the allegation made by the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the contractors and the top brass of Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

In November last year, Telangana voted Congress to power, uninstalling the regional satrap BRS.