HYDERABAD: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday alleged corruption in the construction of the Telangana Martyrs Memorial by the state government, claiming that the expenditure was increased from Rs 63 crore to Rs 179.05 crore without reason. He also asked why it took the government nine years to get it constructed.
Revanth Reddy claimed that the contractor was a close associate of a friend of minister K.T. Rama Rao.
“The contract to erect the memorial was given to a company named KPC Projects Limited, whose office is registered in Proddatur of Kadapa district in AP. How can this project be given to outsiders?” he asked.
Delving on the strength of the structure, he said, “The steel is of 4 mm thickness, lessened from the initial design of using 10 mm thick steel. The structure is already having convulsions and will have more of them, when exposed to the elements over a period of time.”
“How can experts who were hired by paying six per cent of the contract, which amounts to some Rs 11 crore, not come up with a correct expenditure for the memorial as it was increased by three times. This also creates doubts on the competency of the company. The KPC projects erected the Ambedkar statue also, for which, again, the costs were increased. The cost of the Secretariat, which was estimated at Rs 400 crore, was jacked up to Rs 1,600 crore.”
He said that the Congress, after winning the elections, would initiate an inquiry by the Vigilance and ACB teams into the construction.
Revanth Reddy also rapped the BRS for allegedly failing to recognise all martyrs.
“The BRS leaders have come to the stage where they even deny the number of Telangana martyrs. The government has the nerve to say they don’t have information on the 1,569 martyrs. By not mentioning the names of martyrs in the structure, KCR is trying to efface the memory of martyrs from public memory. He is trying to apportion the credit for securing statehood to himself. This is an insult to martyrs like Dasoju Srikantha Chary, K. Venugopal Reddy, Yadaiah and constable Kishtaiah,” he said.
“The Chief Minister had, in the first Assembly session of Telangana, proposed a resolution paying tribute to 1,569 martyrs. Of them, 369 had ended their lives in the 1969 agitation. Of the remaining 1,200, the state government has so far extended help only to 528 families among the 650 who were recognised. How can roads and buildings minister V. Prasanth Reddy say they don’t have the addresses of the martyrs’ families? The newspaper, which is his party’s mouthpiece, had carried details of those families when they ended their lives,” Revanth said.
“KCR should reach out to the remaining martyrs’ families at least now. Once we come to power, we will recognise and give pension of Rs 25,000 to each of those families, along with jobs, on December 9, and honour them,” he said.
Responding to house arrest and arrests of party leaders who tried to protest against the failures of the BRS government, he said that Chandrashekar Rao sought to run the state like his personal fiefdom with the help of police.
Finding fault with the Chief Minister for not mentioning the names of then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who granted statehood, and omitting the names of Telangana Praja Samithi leaders Madan Mohan and Dr Chenna Reddy while recalling the name of Badrivishal Pitti showed Rao’s narrow-mindedness, said TPCC senior vice-president G. Niranjan in a release.
Rao ignored the role played by the Congress leaders after facing incidents like spraying of pepper spray and ensuring the passage of Telangana bill. He is not sincere in extending help to all martyr's families, Niranjan said.
