Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded that the State Government convene an all party meeting or hold a special Assembly session on Pranahita-Chevella project.
Addressing a press conference along with Nalgonda MP Gutha Sukhender Reddy and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy at Congress Legislature Party office on Saturday, Shabbir Ali accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of lacking clarity on Pranahita-Chevella project. Referring to KCR’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, he said that the Chief Minister demanded National Project status without having clarity on whether it is Pranahita-Chevella or Kaleshwaram project. He sought to know whether the State Government has re-designed the project. Further, he said that the cost of the project has been raised from Rs. 36,000 Crore to Rs. 75,000 crore. He said that the State Government should explain the reasons behind 110% increase in the project cost.
Shabbir Ali also alleged that the State Government has released Rs. 2,000 crore to some contractors of Pranahita-Chevella project in violation of set norms and procedures. He said when the project itself is in the stage of re-designing, then when, where and how those contractors executed the works. He alleged that those contractors were favoured by the State Government for the funding TRS received during GHMC elections. He asked the government to furnish details of project, works, packages and locations where those contractors executed the works to claim Rs. 2,000 crore. He said that the Congress party was seeking details with the Chief Secretary under RTI.
Further, Shabbir Ali slammed the TRS Government for shutting down the website on GOs ‘goir.telangana.gov.in’. He said that the previous UPA regime introduced Right to Information Act in 2005 with the aim of empowering common man with complete information on government policies. He said it was mandatory for the government to place GOs and other information in public domain. He said that the TRS Government has tried to end 11-year-old practice of having all GOs online on some flimsy reasons. He said shutting down the website was a clear violation of RTI Act. He demanded that the State Government restore the website within 24 hours. He also asked the Chief Secretary to make public nearly 400 GOs which were classified as ‘confidential’.
The Congress leader also criticised the TRS Government for renaming Indira Sagar and Rajiv Sagar in Dommagudem of Khammam district. He said KCR was showing disrespect to the Nehru-Gandhi family which not only made huge sacrifices for the country, but also gave statehood for Telangana. Stating that the Pranahita-Chevella project was named after Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, he sought to know whether TRS Government renamed the project while changing its design.
Gutha Sukhender Reddy also slammed the TRS Government for violating the RTI Act by shutting down the website on government GOs. He alleged that the State Government lacks proper financial management and therefore, it was pushing Telangana into a huge debt trap.
Ponguleti accused the TRS Government of pursuing some hidden agenda while shutting the GOs website. (INN)