Congress to move court over Palamuru tenders

Hyderabad: Describing the tender process for the Palamuru Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme as a ‘farce’, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday said that the Congress has decided to take the legal course against the “illegal” tenders called by the state government. Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan here, Mr Reddy said that the tenders, which close on Saturday, were “completely manipulated” with the TRS government imposing restrictions in the bidding process so that the work could be awarded to some favoured companies.

He said that the state was bound to lose public money in excess of 25 to 30 per cent if the tenders were allotted through the present illegal route. The TPCC chief said that the Congress would convene an all-party meeting on the issue and “explore legal means to expose the scam which is worth over Rs 3,000 crore” in Palamuru scheme alone. He said that tenders worth Rs 29,333 crore for 18 packages of the Palamuru lift irrigation scheme were invited in complete violation of the rules and set norms.

“Never-heard-before restrictions were imposed so as to prevent global and national companies from participating in the tender process,” Mr Reddy said, added that reputed companies were prohibited from participating in the irrigation department tenders in united Andhra Pradesh. “National and international companies were barred from the tender process on the condition that they must be registered in Hyderabad. Further, a number of technical restrictions such as earlier experience of embankment works, revertment, etc., were imposed. This was done to ensure that only the favoured companies get the works,” he said. He also expressed regret that despite serious objection by the main Opposition party, the TRS government hasn’t bothered to review the tender process even once.