Telangana to order probe into alleged anomalies in Outer Ring Road tender award

Hyderabad, Feb. 28 (PTI): The Congress Government in Telangana on Wednesday said it will order a comprehensive probe by CBI or any equivalent agency on the alleged irregularities in awarding the Outer Ring Road toll tender.

An official release from the state government said that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy-led regime instructed senior officials of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to provide all details pertaining to the tenders.

The Chief Minister, who held a review meeting with HMDA officials here, ordered a thorough investigation into the whole episode which included the involvement of people and the organisations responsible in the tender process.

HMDA Joint Commissioner Amrapali has been asked to submit complete details about the "irregularities" in the tenders, the procedures followed and the movement of the files during the tendering process, the release said.

The officials were also instructed to register cases against the officials and employees concerned if any files related to ORR tenders are found to be missing. "After receiving a full report from HMDA, the government will discuss it in the Cabinet and hand over the issue for a probe to the CBI or an equivalent probing agency", it said.

In August last year, HMDA invited global competitive bids for the Outer Ring Road project on a toll-operate-transfer (TOT) basis, in which the company IRB had participated and emerged as the selected bidder.

The firm then said it had made an upfront payment of Rs 7,000 crore to the HMDA.

The CM inquired why the tender was finalised at a meager Rs 7,800 crore as against the estimation of Rs 18,000 crore revenue generation in a 30-year-period.

"It is primarily estimated the government incurred a loss of Rs 15,000 crore due to the tender process adopted by the HMDA," the release said.

The meeting also discussed how HMDA prepared the DPR (Detailed Project Report) with two companies and finalised the one which caused huge revenue loss to the government, it said.

The chief minister also floated the idea of converting the areas around the city's famous Hussain Sagar lake into a pleasant and beautiful tourist zone.

The Chief Minister suggested that the entire area should be made into a world-class tourist attraction centre for which he asked the officials to remove the encroachments around the lake.

"The development of a skywalk, food stalls, children's amusement zone and greenery landscape will also be developed on the lines of Dubai," the release added. PTI