Tender norms hit water grid

Hyderabad: The Telangana Water Grid, which has been projected as the premium project of the TRS government, is stuck at a nascent stage. The government had recently cancelled tenders citing inexperienced and small time contractors bidding for it. However, big contractors are not in a position to bid for tenders as the norms stipulate that loan defaulters to banks or those who have applied for corporate debt restructuring should not apply.

These big contractors are now bringing pressure on the government to relax these norms, which is being actively considered.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has already announced in the Assembly that the TRS will not seek votes in the next elections in 2019 if it fails to deliver the water grid project by then. Such is the importance being given to the project.

The TRS had not promised the water grid project in its election manifesto. Sidelining other major poll promises like 2 BHK houses for poor, free 3-acre land for Dalits and KG to PG free education by allotting meagre funds in the recent Budget, the government has made the water grid project as top priority and allotted Rs 4,000 crore for the scheme, fuelling allegations from opposition parties of siphoning crores of public money in the name of the water grid along the lines of the Jalayagnam project during the YSR regime.

The project is being taken up with an estimated cost of Rs 41,000 crore and the TS government has decided to call tenders to implement the project in a phased manner.

It has already issued tenders worth Rs 1,300 crore for which the contractors are seeking relaxation of norms.

The frequent changes in project designs are also creating doubts about the project. For instance, in Nalgonda district it has initially been proposed to lay pipelines from the Akkampally reservoir near Nalgonda. Later, the CM changed the design to the Srisailam project, which is too far and will require more pipelines to be laid, thereby incurring unnecessary expenditure.

Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, however, recently went back to the original design after opposition parties alleged that the design had been changed only to benefit some private pipe manufacturers.

“Taking up such a massive project with an expenditure of Rs 40,000 crore without any proper scientific study itself proves the ill intentions of the TRS government. The project will become another Jalayagnam project if the government fails to take corrective measures. When scores of balancing reservoirs with sufficient water levels exist in TS, where is the need to supply water to all the districts from the Srisailam dam?" questioned former minister and senior BJP leader Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy.

He said that by coordinating with the Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply departments and utilising the existing balancing reservoirs, tap water can be supplied to each household with an expenditure of just Rs 8,000 crore, and over Rs 30,000 crore of public money could be saved.