Jagan slams Chandrababu Naidu over graft in project

Hyderabad: AP’s Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy slammed Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over the Pattiseema project and alleged that the CM was avoiding a discussion fearing corruption charges in hiking irrigation rates will be exposed.

“Voice of Opposition is being gagged in the AP Assembly. The TD government is hurrying through Pattiseema at the cost of Polavaram project and the calling of tenders is laden with unprecedented irregularities to favour a few business houses,” Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said. The Opposition leader said that the TD was accusing him of ganging up with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, but it is Mr Naidu who is doing what Mr Rao wanted. The TRS chief had opposed Polavaram and Mr Naidu is doing the same by speeding up Pattiseema. Taking a serious note of the Assembly proceedings he alleged that the Opposition is denied mic at the slightest hint of reference to the Chief Minister. “TD members are given a chance to speak for long hours and we are deprived of a chance to put across our view in the Assembly,” he said.

After many adjournment motions and notices under various forms, the discussion on Pattiseema was taken up, but the mic was denied as the charges of irregularities are being exposed," he said.

"He has allotted the tenders to his favoured companies though they have quoted 21.9 per cent excess while YSR had brought down the percentage from 10 to 5 way back in 2004. Now, Mr Naidu has been justifying that 5 per cent excess is within the guidelines while remaining 16.9 per cent is a bonus given to the company for completing in one year. This is a distortion of the worst kind as the tender is called to complete the work in one year and anyone can imagine the amount of corruption involved in calling of the tenders right from getting qualified to the cushion being provided to the contractors that the bonus remains intact if the delay is from the government side," Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed apprehensions over the time of completion of the project which may take more than two years,"

The project itself puts the existence of Polavaram project at cross roads and in the

Pattiseema project, not a single word is mentioned about water to Rayalseema. The very purpose of Polavarm is to take the flood waters of Godavari to Krishna delta and divert them to Rayalseema and this idea has been in circulation from 70s itself."