The Supreme Court on 21 December ordered Telangana government to ‘produce the original file relating to the preparation of estimates’ in the Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Project (PRRLIP) based on the plea demanding CBI inquiry into the matter. The Court has also ordered the ‘Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) to produce the original file relating to the joint venture agreement with Megha Engineering Infra Limited’(MEIL).
The Court has given four weeks time to BHEL to file an affidavit with the details of the ‘equipment made by it and supplied and payments received for the projects’. The plea was filed in April 2024 by the petitioner Nagam Janardan Reddy, who is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
It was in 2016, the petitioner first filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court against the alleged malpractices in the tenders awarded to MEIL in the PRRLIP.
In the plea the petitioner has alleged that MEIL has embezzled money by increasing the cost of the project by Rs 2426.07 crores.
In January 2016, the estimates for the four packages were revised to Rs 8386.86 crore by the advisor of the project. The new estimate showed a whopping increase in the cost by Rs 2426.07 crores. The petitioner emphasised that the project was a joint venture between MEIL and BHEL and both of them colluded to loot public money by increasing the cost of the project.
The petitioner had demanded a Court monitored CBI investigation into the alleged irregularities and illegalities in the process the cost of the PRRLIP project was increased.
దొంగలు దొంగలు కలిసి ఉర్లు పంచుకున్నట్లు.. కొడంగల్ – నారాయణపేట లిఫ్ట్ ఇరిగేషన్ ప్రాజెక్టును సీఎం రేవంత్ రెడ్డి, మంత్రి పొంగులేటి పంచుకున్నారు.
కేసీఆర్ తలపెట్టిన పాలమూరు – రంగారెడ్డి ప్రాజెక్టులోని డిజైన్ మార్చి, కొడంగల్ – నారాయణపేట లిఫ్ట్ ఇరిగేషన్ అని మొదలెట్టి, రేవంత్ రెడ్డి తన… pic.twitter.com/gAd5aVEbTB
— BhuvanagiriNaveen_BRS (@NKB_BRS) November 6, 2024
PRRLIP is one of the early projects that shows the modus operandi adopted by the second highest donor of electoral bonds, MEIL. In several other projects, MEIL has been accused of conniving with the bureaucrats to embezzle money by increasing the cost of the projects after getting the contract from the government.
The petitioner had demanded a Court monitored CBI investigation into the alleged irregularities and illegalities in the process the cost of the PRRLIP project was increased.