Alleging huge corruption under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0) scheme in Telangana, BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) has submitted a memorandum to Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar seeking an inquiry. In the memorandum submitted on Tuesday, November 12, KTR has alleged the involvement of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s family in the purported scam.
The BRS president specifically took the name of Sujan Reddy, Revanth’s brother-in-law, who he alleged has received contracts worth thousands of crores despite his company lacking the necessary qualifications. The government awarding the contract to Sujan Reddy’s company was a direct violation of code of conduct, he said.
According to the former state minister, the company Shodha Infrastructure Limited, owned by Sujan Reddy, was awarded a contract worth Rs 1,137 crore despite its meagre profit declaration of Rs 2.2 crore for the Financial Year (FY) 2021-2022. The prerequisites for AMRUT tenders are technical expertise and financial stability. “Going by the financial statements and the history of the said firm, the allotment seems contentious,” he alleged.
Both Shodha Infrastructure Limited and Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd have been awarded the contracts relating to water supply and sewerage projects under AMRUT 2.0 by the Telangana government. As per the contract, while Shodha will complete 80% of the work in Telangana, Indian Hume will execute the remaining 20% work.
Pointing this out in his letter, KTR questioned how the Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd declared that about 80% of the Rs 1,137 crore work will be executed by Shodha Infrastructure Limited, a company with a financial record of a meagre Rs 2.2 crore profits. “Was there an underlying understanding in the very first stage of allotment or was it a conscious decision of The Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd to do it out of the goodness of their heart, needs to be investigated?” he asked.
The BRS leader argued that the Telangana government awarding the contract to Shodha Infrastructure was not just a violation of the code of conduct, but also of Article 191 (1) of the Indian Constitution. “Public representatives and their family cannot start, or participate in, business concerns, engaged in supplying goods or services to that Government. If that happens, the matter needs to be reported to the chief minister. But, if the Chief Minister and his family are directly involved in corrupt practices, who will blow the whistle, sir?” he further wrote.
After handing over the memorandum with the relevant documents pertaining to the tender to the Union Minister, KTR also addressed a press conference in New Delhi along with the party’s MPs and other leaders. He said that the investigation should not just be restricted to the contract awarded to Shodha Infrastructure, but the entire AMRUT tender allotment of Rs 8,888.51 crore.
He also alleged that the tender allotment had a strong similarity to the office-of-profit case against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the case. The AMRUT 2.0 allotments in Telangana is no different from what led to the famous Ashok Khemka vs. State of Haryana (2014) case, where the state had to compromise the law of the land to ensure profits for Robert Vadra, promoter of DLF and the son-in-law of the then Congress president Madam Sonia Gandhi, KTR argued.
He also said that the scam was similar to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority case in Karnataka, where land was allotted to the wife of CM Siddaramaiah.