Congress MP Denies Allegations of Irregularities in Tender Allotments and Delays in Payments
Addressing allegations made by RVM Constructions of irregularities in tender allotments and delays in payments, Congress MP from Bhongir Kiran Kumar Chamala said on Saturday, October 17, that the firm was trying to discredit the government despite receiving its dues. According to a report in The Hindu , the MP held a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad, saying that nearly 80 per cent of the bills submitted by RVM Constructions to the present government had been paid. He said that RVM Constructions had undertaken works worth Rs 77.08 crore in Telangana since 2017. Since the Congress government came to power in the state, the company has secured only two works: a degree college worth Rs 8.5 crore and a municipal building at Andole-Jogipet. The company had submitted bills worth Rs 25.1 crore to the present government, out of which Rs 20.15 crore had been paid, leaving Rs 4.95 crore pending, he said. He also claimed that the owner of RVM Constructions, Nama Ramesh, is associated with a former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP. In a letter addressed to the Builder Association of India on October 13, the company had alleged that Sushee Infra, owned by Congress MLA K Rajagopal Reddy’s family, was ‘targeted’ in the tender allocation process of Radial Road–2 due to a political rift between the legislator and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The letter stated that typically, 10-12 companies participate in projects tendered by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India and state governments. However, for the Radial Road project, only four companies, including Sushee Infra, had participated. Others had allegedly been threatened by the CM’s office. NCC, BVSR and GKC, companies that participated in the tender auction, had been pre-arranged by the Chief Minister, RVM Constructions alleged. Speaking to South First , Rajagopal Reddy said that a close aide of CM Revanth had suggested that his company should not bid for the project. “When tenders were called, Rudra Uday Simha, a close aide of the Chief Minister, called me to suggest that my family company, Sushee Infra, should not participate in the bidding process. I told him that the company had executed projects in the most difficult terrains in the country. I also conveyed that the company was run by a professional setup headed by my son and that they would decide. My son eventually decided to bid for the contract, given that we have vast experience in the field,” Rajagopal Reddy told South First . RVM Constructions had also alleged that the contracts were awarded in exchange for a 15 per cent “commission”. The difference between Sushee Infra’s bids and those of the lowest bidders, known as L1 bidders, was around Rs 600 crore across the three packages, RVM had added in its letter. The letter had further stated that contractors were awaiting nearly Rs 20,000 crore against certified bills and that large commissions were being sought for the release of these dues. In the same press conference, Chamala alleged that the former chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, had prioritised the interests of his family over the state’s interests. He alleged that the Konda Pochamma Sagar project was designed to benefit KCR’s farmhouse in Erravalli rather than meet the irrigation needs of farmers. He said that Panduranga Cheruvu, a 58-acre waterbody, had come up adjacent to KCR’s farmhouse after 2017, providing water year long. He also alleged that Rs 42.54 crore of public money had been spent on installing a drip irrigation system at KCR’s farmhouse with a 100 per cent subsidy.
