Hyderabad: Alleging that the state government was staring at a ₹22,620 crore loss in the 30-year contract for toll collection and maintenance on the Outer Ring Road that was handed over to the Mumbai-based IRB Infra, TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday accused minister K.T. Rama Rao and some senior IAS officers of being involved in a massive scam in which ₹1,000 crore had changed hands as kickbacks.
Speaking to mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan, Reddy said that the Congress would lodge complaints with the ED, CBI and Central Vigilance Commission.
“The BJP leaders, who are vocal against the state’s corrupt administration, should take the matter to the national level. I wonder why they are silent on the issue. Is it that the Mumbai company has links with the BJP?” he wondered.
Reddy demanded that the HMDA give complete details right from the tender process as the previous company, Eagle Infra, was collecting toll for almost five years. He alleged that as those at the helm were not sure of coming back to power, they have decided to kill the golden goose and hand over the ORR to a private firm as a toll-operated transfer (ToT) initiative.
According to the PCC chief, contrary to the government’s claims of it being a profitable deal, it was pushing the government into losses.
“If 10 per cent annual increase of traffic is taken into account, the toll collection could be somewhere around ₹30,000 crore. But they have sold it for a meagre ₹7,380 crore,” he alleged.
The PCC chief said that the BRS government was earlier close to handing the 30-year contract to Adani group but the pressure mounted by the Congress on the BJP government and the ongoing campaign for a probe into all Adani deals has prompted the government to go to the Mumbai company.
“Senior bureaucrats Somesh Kumar, Arvind Kumar and Jayesh Ranjan were involved in finalising the deal. The Congress will pursue the matter and, after coming to power, will ensure that the dealings of the BRS government with private entities are investigated, particularly the ORR project,” he said.
