Even Chief Secretaries Couldn’t Stop Corruption In Irrigation Department
After coming into power in 2014, Chandrababu Naidu has removed the existing contractors from the works of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS), Handri- NeevaSujalaSravanti (HNSS), Gorakallu and many other projects.
Then he had jacked up the costs of the projects many times and called for new tenders without even obtaining administrative approvals for them. While tenders have been called for 25 packages of different projects, in a strange coincidence, all of them were won by the companies of the ruling party leaders.
While most of the tenders were won by Rithwik Projects, the company of C.M. Ramesh, a TDP MP and Chandrababu's close confidant, the remaining few have ended up with the companies of other cronies.
It was visible that the favoured contractors have bagged all the contracts by forming a ring with the active support of the Chief Minister.
Thus, the CM had prepared the ground for a daylight robbery of Rs. 6,000 crore. In all packages, mobilization advances were issued, about 50 % of bills were paid before taking any administrative approvals.
As the officials of Finance Department started raising objections to this illegal process, the Chief Minister and the Water Resources Minister have coerced them to silence.
Indeed, the payment of advances and bills without administrative approvals was against the law and would attract the audit objections.
Highlighting these intentional lapses, the media has published extensive, well-researched stories on the corruption in Water Resources Department. To dodge media criticism, the government has sought to legalize the Rs. 6,000 crore scandals and came out with the so-
called 'new cost escalation' proposals. However, two previous Chief Secretaries- I.Y.R. Krishna Rao and S.P. Tucker- have refused to sign the escalation proposals as they were a total sham.
To counter the opposition of Chief Secretaries, the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh have brought forth a new route called 'cabinet approval'. To the horror and shock of bureaucrats, the highly corrupt cabinet has 'approved' the thoughtless cost escalation proposals.
Despite the 'approval' of the cabinet, the Chief Secretaries refused to sign these proposals. Due to their opposition, the proposals have gone back to the cabinet thrice.
A proposal going back to the cabinet thrice due to opposition from the Chief Secretaries could be the first of its kind incidents in the history of independent India.
Two Chief Secretaries refusal to give consent to the government proposals indicates the dangerous levels of corruption of Chandrababu Naidu's regime. It is learnt that Rs. 3,000 crore- half of Rs. 6,000 crore- was taken as his cut by the Chief Minister.
Source: Emperor Of Corruption
