Revanth alleges ₹1,000 crore ‘scam’ in ORR lease for 30 years

Telangana Congress president smells a scam in the extension of toll collection to a private party on the Outer Ring Road without calling for tenders

Terming the leasing of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to a private party by the government as a big scam, TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy said the project that would generate ₹30,000 crore in the next 10 years was leased out for just ₹7,380 crore.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr. Reddy alleged that huge sums had changed hands in the deal. The ORR, which is estimated to grow at least 10% annually, cannot be given away at a throwaway lease price, he said.

He said the Congress government would surely review the lease as soon as it comes to power after the next elections and warned that those behind this ‘shady’ deal will not be spared. “In fact, all the decisions taken by former chief secretary Somesh Kumar, Special Chief Secretary Municipal Administration Arvind Kumar and IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan will be reviewed,” he said.

Alleging that even during the last four years the government extended undue favour to a particular infrastructure company, he said permission was extended to them without calling for any tender. The toll collection on the ORR is ₹2 crore every day and the extension without any tender benefitted the bigwigs, and Minister for Municipal Administration K. T. Rama Rao should explain the reasons for the extension without the tender.

He said the Congress came to power in 2004 and built an international airport and Outer Ring Road as the symbols of Hyderabad spending ₹6,696 crore. If investments were coming to Telangana it is because of the infrastructure like the airport and Outer Ring Road. And the BRS government wants to ‘sell’ such people’s properties for personal financial gains.

Mr. Reddy also questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s silence on the transfer of public property at a throwaway price and demanded that BJP chief Bandi Sanjay and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy respond. The Congress chief said he would complain to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) providing them with all the evidence.