Hyderabad: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, which was contracted by the TRS government to build several projects, is like an East India Company for the state, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy said in an unprecedented attack on the ruling party.
He alleged that caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had allotted about Rs 60,000 worth works to the companies owned by Mr Megha Krishna Reddy.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, Mr Jaipal Reddy said, “KCR has become a slave to construction companies, especially Megha Constructions and the Navayuga Group.”
He said the government had allotted works worth Rs 43,436 crore to Megha Constructions in the irrigation sector alone. Koya Constructions, also owned by Mr Megha Krishna Reddy, was given Mission Bhagiratha projects worth Rs 14,000 crore.
“This means only one single company has got contracts worth Rs 60,000 crore, which was never seen in the history of any state,” he said. He alleged that Mr Rao had directed the company to distribute commissions to the Chief Minister, ministers, MLAs and local TRS leaders. This was done by Navayuga Constructions, which was given irrigation works worth Rs 17,000 crore.
“In four years, no project was completed. Only pipelines were laid for Mission Bhagiratha as the pipes were manufactured by the company that belongs to Megha Krishna Reddy. I challenge the government to deny the numbers,” Mr Jaipal Reddy said.
He said that the cost of all projects had been over-estimated by 30 per cent. “The corruption can be calculated according to the overestimations,” the Congress leader said.
Mr Jaipal Reddy alleged that the government had borrowed Rs 2 lakh crore to pay the construction companies and pushed the state into debts. “Soon after the Congress forms government, a detailed inquiry will be ordered and we will ensure the guilty are punished. Both the companies will be disqualified. Mr KCR had said that the Congress is trying to sell Telangana state to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. But, these irregularities show how Mr KCR is helping Andhra contractors by plundering the state. The Congress is not against Andhra contractors, but the two companies will be blacklisted for irregularities,” he said.
