Blacklist MEIL, cancel Kodangal project tender, demands BRS

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has demanded the Telangana government to blacklist Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) for the collapse of the retaining wall of the under-construction intake well and pump house complex at Sunkishala project and cancellation of tender awarded to MEIL and Raghava Construction of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy for Narayanpet-Kodangal Lift Irrigation Project.

BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao on Wednesday questioned the Congress government why it failed to blacklist MEIL despite the recommendation of the inquiry committee, which probed the Sunkishala incident.

The former minister also alleged a scam in awarding two packages of Rs.4,350 crore in the Narayanpet-Kodangal project to MEIL and Raghava Construction.

KTR, as the former minister is popularly known, reminded Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy that when he was in opposition, he used to call MEIL ‘East India Company’. He said Congress party leaders had termed MEIL as ‘mafia’.

“Why have you not blacklisted MEIL despite the committee formed by your own government concluding that negligence by the contractor led to the accident at Sunkishala and why have you awarded a contract to the same company for Narayanpet-Kodangal Lift Irrigation Project,” he asked.

The BRS leader recalled that former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had designed Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project to irrigate two lakh acres in Narayanpet and Kodangal but the Congress government renamed it as Narayanpet-Kodangal Lift Irrigation project and reduced the area to be irrigated to one lakh acres.

He said internationally reputed companies like L&T and NCC were disqualified in technical bid and one package each was awarded to MEIL and Raghava.

“The Chief Minister should tell people why these two companies were given the tender. What is his commission in this and what is Rahul Gandhi’s commission,” he asked.

KTR also mentioned that MEIL recently presented a cheque of Rs.200 crore for the Skill University.

He claimed that the government has planned another project of Rs 5,520 crore to pump Kaleshwaram water from the Mallannasagar reservoir to Gandipet and from there to the Musi River.

He reminded that till the other day the Congress was alleging that Kaleshwaram was washed away and that there was Rs.1 lakh crore corruption in the project built by the BRS government.

KTR asked if the government could award work to a company owned by a Cabinet minister. “Do you have any law in this country? What are the central investigating agencies like ED, CBI, IT, and CVC doing,” he asked.

Alleging that Congress and BJP are hand-in-glove, the BRS leader said no action was taken even four weeks after ED raids on Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy.

The BRS working president said if the BJP was sincere in acting against corruption, it should order an inquiry into the AMRUT scam. He alleged that a Rs.1,137 crore contract under AMRUT was awarded to the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law.