BRS Government Killing Golden Duck: Kishan Reddy On ORR Lease

Union Minister for Tourism & Culture G Kishan Reddy today alleged that the BRS government was killing a golden duck by leasing the ORR toll collection project to a private firm for a very low price, and that there was a big scam behind it.

"The ORR is like a golden duck, and CM K Chandrashekar Rao is killing it. I want to ask the State government if it will conduct an audit on the issue or prepare for a CBI inquiry," he said.

He said that the State government had decided to hand over the lease of the ORR project to IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited for Rs 7,380 crore for 30 years. Noting that a firm by name Eagle Infra was paying Rs 415 crore per annum to HMDA currently, Reddy said that the HMDA would have earned around Rs 30,000 crore in 30 years assuming an increase of 5% per annum from the current Rs 415 crore, and Rs 75,000 crore if the annual income increased at the rate of 10%.

He asked the State government to reveal the reasons behind its decision to hand over the lease for such a low price. He added that the HMDA Master Plan 2031 would expire in 2031, and that the allotment of the ORR toll collection contract to a private firm for 30 years was illegal. He alleged that the BRS government had handed over the contract in a hurried manner as it was not confident that it would come into power again in Telangana.

He also alleged that the family members of the CM were committing land scams running into thousands of crores of rupees, and promised to order a detailed inquiry after the BJP took over the State government. He vowed that the BJP would not leave anybody who committed any kind of corruption in the lease of the ORR toll collection project.