Andhra Pradesh

Experts' credibility questioned

Staff Reporter

TDP takes exception to their presence in the open debate

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam Party has alleged that some political parties have deputed irrigation experts representing construction companies short-listed to undertake projects to the open debate on the tenders issue.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary on Sunday, the TDP general secretary, K. Srihari, raised objection to the continuance of some representatives of contractors in the open debate. He said the retired chief engineer, Hanumantha Reddy, who appeared for the Janata Party, was a consultant with Maytas while the Samajwadi Party representative, B. P. Venkateswarulu, was working with Soma constructions. Similarly, the Congress nominee, K. Harimohan, a retired chief engineer, was now re-employed in the designs division. He pointed out that the Congress MLA, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, was a partner in Sruti Hi-Tech company which was pre-qualified in Category - 2. The moderator in the last week's debate, Lavakusa Reddy, the retired Engineer-in-chief, had been re-employed in the eGovernance project by the Government.

Action sought

He alleged that all representatives had vested interests and would not allow truth to come out.

He said there would be no transparency in the entire issue unless the experts and others are disallowed and action was initiated against the officials, who allowed such a thing to take place.

In another letter to the Chief Secretary, the TDP MLA, Kala Venkat Rao, demanded action against the Irrigation advisor to the Government, P. Sitapati Rao, for his comments against TDP leaders. Earlier, at a press conference at the TDP office, the former MP, Gutta Sukhender Reddy, alleged that Mr. Venkat Reddy was also associated with other construction companies including Bhagirath and Ircon, both of which were qualified in Category 1 and took up work in the Sriram Sagar Project Flood Flow Canal in the name Maytas.

BJP joins issue

Vijaywada Staff Reporter adds: The former Union Minister and national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bandaru Dattatreya, demanded that the State Government initiate action against two officials -- the Advisor to the State Government on irrigation projects, P. Sitapati Rao, and the Director-General of Police, Swaranjit Sen, for making political statements.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Dattatreya felt that Government officials should draw a line between administration and politics. While the advisor charged opposition parties with hindering the construction of irrigation projects, the DGP indicated that he did not like opposition parties, he added. "It clearly shows the immaturity of the State Government and its lack of control over administration," he said. Expressing concern over the Engineering Procurement Contract and the internal benchmark systems that were being implemented by the Government to finalise irrigation tenders, Mr. Dattatreya asked the Government to maintain transparency in the process.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu