BJP seeks high level probe in Mission Kakatiya works

Hyderabad: State BJP president K Laxman demanded Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to order a high-level probe into the irregularities in the Mission Kakatiya (MK) works, which were exposed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) recently.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Laxman said that the TRS government had attacked the Opposition leaders when they pointed out the irregularities but now, even the CAG has also highlighted the misdeeds.

“The CAG report comes as an eye opener to the State government which has been on the denial mode. But, the exposure vindicates BJP’s stand and urged KCR to constitute a probe panel to fix the responsibility on the erring officials and take stringent action,” Laxman added.

The state BJP president said that the CAG exposure shows how MK has become a flagship programme to fill the pockets of the contractors. And, “The funds coming from the Centre and the huge quantum of loans raised by the State government have been spent on non-priority works,” he lamented.

He said that the hollow claims of the State government that Telangana has become a number one progressive state in the country in last three years has been thoroughly exposed with the CAG report, as in fact, “It is fast becoming a number one state to reckoned with corruption,” he pointed out.

Questioning the right of the State government to waste the tax-payers’ money, Laxman pointed out, “23 percent of the works claimed to have been completed under MK have in fact been completed earlier under the Central sponsored programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and tank restoration schemes. Nearly, Rs 1,000 crore had been allegedly spent on the works on the same tanks,” he bemoaned.

The lame excuses given by the State government officials to the repeated questions sought by the CAG further exposes how irresponsibly the administration has been functioning, he said. “The officials claimed lack of staff in their administrative machinery when the CAG had asked to provide the total quantum of earth removed from the tank beds and the number of farmers lifted the same for their use,”
Laxman said.

The government claimed to have completed 83 percent of works under Mission Kakatiya during the first phase. But, during the second phase, it showed completion of only 14 percent of works and there was no explanation coming forth for the same from the officials, he said.

Laxman said that a total of 140 tanks were studied from February to June, 2017 and test checked by the CAG. Apart from irregularities, the officials concerned do not even have records to show about the works carried out in Warangal, Sangareddy and few other districts, he said.

Similarly, the irregularities exposed in case of projects and how the estimates had been jacked up reminds of the ‘Dhana Yagnam’ in the name of ‘Jala Yagnam’, during the Congress regime in the United Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Also, the government has been wasting time and money in the name of redesign of irrigation projects without focusing on resolving the shortcoming in the impletion and completing them early, he said and demanded an enquiry into the excess of the contractors.

For example, water could be brought to the city from Krishna River from Sunkesula barrage with Rs 1200 crore, But, the government has decided to spend nearly Rs 8,000 crore in the name of a redesigned project, Laxman said.