Cancel Water Grid Tenders, Demands T-Congress

The Telangana Congress on Saturday demanded cancellation of all tenders for the Water Grid project of the state government.

Alleging large scale irregularities, the Telangana Congress leaders demanded that all previous tenders be made public and cancelled.

They also demanded that fresh tenders be invited in a transparent manner.

The press conference was addressed by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Uttam Kumar Reddy, Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Leaders of the Opposition Mohammed Ali Shabbir (Council) and K Jana Reddy (Assembly) at Gandhi Bhavan.

Referring to a 2010 report from the central government, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that more than 70% of the households already had water supply through pipelines, and the Centre had proposed to complete the remaining works with just Rs 10,000 crores. However, the TRS government created a hype around the Water Grid, and wanted to waste thousands of crores by cheating the people, he alleged.

He asked that government to place the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Water Grid in the public domain. He also alleged that the tenders of the Water Grid were manipulated so as to benefit a syndicate of contractors.

He also claimed that the rules were twisted in such a way that no company from Telangana became eligible to participate in the tender process.

Speaking about the project, Shabbir Ali alleged that the project estimations from Rs 25,000 crores to Rs 40,000 crores were made on mere speculations.

"Even when we dig a borewell at our home or in a field, an engineer suggests the size of the pipeline and the motor only after hitting water. However, the government wants to go ahead with the project without even defining the source of water," he said.

Jana Reddy too asked the TRS government to execute the project in a transparent manner. He said that the government should take serious note of the irregularities and ensure that not a single rupee from public exechequer was misused.

Disclosing the details of the tenders, Bhatti Vikramarka said that the prices quoted by different companies clearly indicated that they were operating like a syndicate. He demanded that the state government cancel all the tenders and call for fresh tenders for the Water Grid project.

The Congress leaders strongly condemned Panchayat Raj Minister K Tarakarama Rao for criticising the Congress. They said KTR's age, experience and stature did not permit him to speak about a senior leader like Digvijay Singh who had successfully served as the Chief Minister of a major state.

Jana Reddy described KTR's remarks as a result of either frustration or arrogance. (INN)