Corruption in Telangana digital ticket tenders, says Krishank

He demanded the Transport Minister to respond to these questions and explain the reasons as to how the contract was awarded to Chalo Mobility.

Hyderabad: BRS leader Manne Krishank on Saturday said there were irregularities and lack of transparency in digital ticket tenders issued by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC).A substantial project tender related to ITIMS (Intelligent Ticket Issue Machines) was kept confidential and conducted internally, raising questions about why such a significant project is not listed on the RTC website, he said at a press conference here.

Stating that Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar was maintaining secrecy regarding the RTC department tenders, Krishank asked: “Why were the tenders issued by the previous government in February 2023 abruptly cancelled?”

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He also questioned the motive behind moving online tenders on the RTC website to offline mode on January 11, 2024. “Details about the number of tenders submitted and the quotes received are being kept secret. What is the reason behind introducing 14 amendments within a month?” he asked. Krishank also raised concerns about the contract for 13,200 ticket machines awarded to Chalo Mobility. If 30 lakh tickets were issued daily across the State, the commission from each ticket directly benefits this company, he said.

According to RTC calculations, if 5.2 million tickets were sold daily over five years, the commission amounts to crores of rupees, Krishank said, adding “Why was such a large project kept secret?”

He demanded the Transport Minister to respond to these questions and explain the reasons as to how the contract was awarded to Chalo Mobility. The Minister should also disclose how many companies had participated in the tender, and their details, besides why were online tenders removed in favor of offline tenders, he said.

He wanted Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy also to respond to the corruption charges in the transport department.

“People wanted six guarantees but got six scams including liquor, rice, fly ash, RTC tenders. When questions are posed by people, cases are being booked against them,” Krishank said.