Kiran’s fag-end actions come under ESL’s lens

• Governor’s secretary seeks files cleared from Dec to Feb
• Governor to meet with Finance Dept officials on March 8.

Hyderabad: A fresh scrutiny of the major decisions taken in the fag-end of the Kiran Kumar Reddy’s regime is being made by Governor E S L Narasimhan, who has become the head of administration of the State, following promulgation of the President’s Rule. The Governor who has already reversed transfers of some 10 IAS officers, effected by the Kiran Reddy government, is firm on a review of all major decisions which have become controversial.

Accordingly, his Special Chief Secretary N Ramesh Kumar wrote to Chief Secretary P K Mohanty, calling for the files signed by Kiran Reddy from December 20, 2013, to February 20, 2014.

Mohanty, who received a letter from Governor’ office on Tuesday, readied the files and sent them to the Governor office. Though the officials have been calling it a routine affair, the Governor apparently took a tough stand on the issue.

It is reliably learnt that the Governor would be undertaking a close scrutiny of all finance department files with the officials concerned on March 8. There has been a hue and cry over Kiran Kumar Reddy’s actions before stepping down, not only by the opposition but by his own party men and Ministers as well.

An official said on condition of anonymity that the Governor wanted to scrutinise all the files that were signed by Kiran for the last two months. “Kiran may be in for his cup of woes if any lacunae are found by the officials of Governor’s office,” he said.

It is said that Kiran Kumar Reddy cleared thousands of files in the last two months before his resignation. The files included ArogyaSri sanctions, transfers of certain officials, clearing mini hydro-electric projects and allotment of government lands to some industries. Kiran allocated 20 acres at Kurmannapalem village under Chinagadili mandal in Visakhapatnam district to three private persons at a throw-away price. The government lands in Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Kukatpally have also been alienated to private companies.

Kiran cleared another file, raising the capacity of the Relampadu Balancing Reservoir in Mahaboobnagar district from 2.30 tmcft to 4 tmcft. The project is estimated to cost Rs 193 crore and the contract is entrusted to Sri Venkateswara Engineering Company, Nellore. Likewise, the then Chief Minister sanctioned six hydel projects in Nalgonda, three in Guntur districts, four mini hydel projects in Nellore district, two each in Prakasam and Vizianagaram and one in Adilabad district.

Kiran cleared the file of a deputy commissioner, Ramgopal, who was nabbed by the ACB sleuths while taking Rs 11 lakh as bribe. With this order, the official was spared from the enquiry. Budget was also released to various contractors of irrigation projects.