CAG highlighted corruption in Polavaram and Pattiseema projects

Hyderabad: PAC chairman and YSR Congress party MLA Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said that the irregularities pointed out by CAG in its report with respect to Polavaram project, were out in the open. CAG pointed a finger directly at the AP government and the manner in which contractors looted the treasury, he said.

Speaking to media persons at the party headquarters in Hyderabad, Buggana said CAG highlighted the corruption in Polavaram and Pattiseema projects. In fact, CAG stated that Pattiseema was not required and work on the project was unnecessarily taken up. According to the senior YSRCP leader, the report also said that third party quality control and quality audit were not undertaken in the case of Polavaram. No ombudsman had been appointed, he said.

Buggana accused Chandrababu of mortgaging the interests of the state and also special category status for the sake of Polavaram project. The YSR Congress party MLA said that land acquisition for Polavaram had been violative of norms and full of irregularities. According to the CAG report, 96% of the rehabilitation and resettlement had not been done, he said. He suggested that the Centre complete the project since it was a central government project.

Buggana pointed out that SCS to Andhra Pradesh would solve many of the current problems the state was plagued with. The Chandrababu Naidu government claimed that construction on 40 projects was ongoing and that it would complete the work, but he questioned how this was possible. He further observed that the government of Andhra Pradesh had deliberately hiked the estimated costs by one hundred per cent on all the ongoing projects to ensure that contractors were benefited. Why was the government supplying cement and steel, he questioned. Contractors were paid Rs.1800 crore more than what was due to them, the senior leader of YSRCP said.

Buggana wanted to know why clarity had not been sought from the Centre on funds for the project and said that there was no monitoring at all. Buggana pointed out that the monitoring committee which was supposed to wait 24 times met only twice. He observed that the Chandrababu Naidu government had the distinction of notching up a huge debt of one lakh 50 crore rupees.