Congress heavily relying on Telangana for party funds, says KTR

KTR alleged that the Musi River beautification project was unfolding as a massive scam under the current administration. "The Musi River project is a clear example of the Congress's mismanagement.

Hyderabad: Launching a scathing attack on the Congress rule in the State mired in corruption, BRS working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday claimed that the party was in dire need of funds with elections approaching in Maharashtra and other States. The Congress leadership was relying heavily on Telangana, as Karnataka’s Congress was unable to support due to its Chief Minister’s involvement in the MUDA scam.

Accompanied by party MLAs and senior leaders from the GHMC limits, Rama Rao visited the Nagole Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), the largest facility in South Asia with a capacity of 320 million litres per day (MLD), as part of a stock taking mission. It was built as part of a larger initiative to treat 100% of Hyderabad’s sewage, significantly enhancing the city’s wastewater management capabilities.

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“With only two States under Congress rule, Karnataka and Telangana, the party leadership was desperate for money. Karnataka’s Congress was not in a position to help, leaving Telangana’s Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy as the only source of funds for the party. This has led to rampant corruption and mismanagement in the State,” he said.

He further alleged that the Musi River beautification project was unfolding as a massive scam under the current administration. “The Musi River project is a clear example of the Congress’s mismanagement. The project cost has been inflated to meet its needs,” he alleged.

He questioned the shocking increase in the project cost from Rs 16,000 crore to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore, dismissing Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s version of Musi ‘beautification’ as “lootification.”

He questioned the need for such a massive outlay for the beautification of Musi, especially after the near-completion of a Rs 3,866 crore sewage treatment project during the BRS regime. This project covered all 54 nalas carrying water and industrial effluents into Musi. “The Chief Minister was left with no other task but the ribbon-cutting to inaugurate the facilities,” he remarked.

The BRS leader compared the Musi project to other major initiatives like the Namami Gange programme, which aimed at cleaning and rejuvenating a 2,400 km stretch of the river at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore, and the Sabarmati River rejuvenation project in Gujarat, launched in 2018 with an outlay of Rs 7,000 crore. “Why does Musi cleaning and rejuvenation need Rs 1.5 lakh crore?” he questioned.

Crediting the long-term planning and execution of the sewage treatment on such a large scale in the twin cities to the vision and commitment of the then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, he highlighted the previous regime’s plans. These included linking Gandipet tank with Kondapochamma reservoir to let Godavari waters flow down the Musi, and an expressway from Manchirevula to Pratap Singaram along the 57.5 km long Musi river course, costing Rs 10,000 crore. Additionally, 15 more bridges cum check dams were planned at a cost of Rs 540 crore.

Taking a serious note of the trauma the dwellers in Musi buffer zone were being subjected to in the name of Musi beautification, he said over 11000 such families were identified during the BRS regime only. But the BRS government did not subject such people to this kind of torment.

Having collected property taxes and power charges for decades and given them all facilities, how can you call them as encroachers, he questioned.