KTR demands probe into Rs 8,888 crore AMRUT 2.0 tender scam in Telangana

New Delhi: BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded the cancellation of tenders worth Rs 8,888 crore awarded under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme in Telangana, suspecting huge corruption and crony capitalism. He also demanded a thorough investigation by the Centre into the tender process and immediate action against those involved.
“There cannot be a bigger example of crony capitalism, corruption, and abuse of power,” he said addressing the media in Delhi on Tuesday.
Rama Rao said the Congress government in Telangana was facilitating corruption to benefit its leaders. He drew attention to Congress Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi‘s frequent criticism against corruption and crony capitalism as well as how powerful people connected to more powerful people were able to abuse the proximity to power centre and get their way to amass wealth, contrasting it with the blatant malpractice in Telangana.
The BRS working president explained that tenders for six packages under AMRUT 2.0, totaling Rs 8,888 crore, were floated in February this year. Of these, a Rs 1,137 crore tender was awarded to a joint venture involving Indian Hume Pipe Company (IHP), Sodha Constructions, and AMR. IHP which is a listed company, disclosed to the stock exchange that it would execute only 20 per cent of the project, leaving 80 per cent to Sodha Constructions, a company linked to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law, Sujan Reddy.
“Sodha Constructions which recorded meagre net profits of Rs 3.5 crore in 2020-21 and 2021-22, lacks the credentials to handle such large projects, raising serious questions about the tendering process,” he asserted.
Rama Rao suspected that the tenders were awarded only because Revanth Reddy holds the Municipal Administration portfolio and the company belongs to his brother-in-law. Thus, he said, the government violated multiple legal provisions including the Office of Profit under Article 191 (1) of the Indian Constitution, Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act of 1951 and also the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Besides writing a letter to Union Minister for Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar in September this year in this regard, the former Minister along with other BRS leaders met him personally in Delhi on Monday. They sought an in-depth probe and immediate cancellation of the tenders.