Revisit Image Towers Agreement, Demands BJP Leader Gudur

Hyderabad: BJP leader Gudur Narayana Reddy on Sunday demanded that the state government revisit the agreement entered into by the previous BRS administration with the Salarpuria Sattva Group for construction of the Image Towers in Hyderabad.

In a statement, Narayan Reddy, TS BJP executive committee member. urged the Congress to protect state interests. He also demanded the government to conduct an inquiry into the entire deal.

Referring to a related report in these columns on Sunday (Sattva Meva Jayate: BRS granted firm 75% Image Towers, no work), Narayan Reddy said it appeared that the previous government was hand in glove with the contractor. He made it clear that the former IT minister and his principal secretary in the previous BRS government should be made responsible for the loss-making agreement.

Charging that the BRS government had entered into the agreement with the Sattva group which had grossly compromised the interests of the state, Narayan Reddy said that the previous regime had flouted the norms by giving the lion’s share to the concessionaire.

“In any development agreement, the landlords ensure that they get at least 40 to 50 per cent of the revenue. In this particular agreement, the BRS government has generously gifted 75 per cent of the benefit to the concessionaire for reasons best known to it,” he said.

The BJP leader said that it was not clear why the government was generous towards the group. Besides in the guise of developing infrastructure for a particular programme, the contractor was allowed to do business on a large scale.

Narayana Reddy said that if the agreement was not amended the objective of the government to develop the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector would be defeated.