RS Praveen Kumar demands SIT probe into residential school tenders

BRS General Secretary R S Praveen Kumar has alleged a Rs 3,000-crore scam in residential school tenders in Telangana and demanded an SIT probe. He accused the Congress government of sidelining local contractors in favour of firms from other States.

Hyderabad: BRS General Secretary RS Praveen Kumar alleged a scam worth Rs 3,000 crore in residential schools tenders and demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the irregularities.

In the BRS government’s rule, all efforts were made to ensure that tenders were secured by Telangana contractors. Opportunities were extended to nearly 10,000 small and medium-scale contractors in the residential school tenders. However, the Congress government is awarding them to contractors from other States, he slammed.

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Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the BRS General Secretary questioned the rationale behind Telangana Lidcap works being handed over to an individual named Ramesh Jain.

Interestingly, Telangana-based ‘Mana Shoes’ company application was not accepted for the tenders. The government insisted that the applicant company must have a turnover of Rs 300 crore, he said.

“Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, a Rajya Sabha Member, and an IAS officer have conspired to cancel the residential school decentralized tenders,” Praveen Kumar charged.

The BRS General Secretary came down heavily on Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman, and Mohammed Azharuddin. He maintained that they lacked basic understanding and awareness on the tenders.

They were merely speaking from a script handed over to them and the notebook tender was awarded to a Mumbai-based company, he said, adding “More than students, contractors from New Delhi are visiting the residential schools,”

The Chief Minister, who happens to be TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu’s disciple, appears to bear a grudge against Telangana. After securing contracts in Telangana, CM Ramesh was using the proceeds to influence TMC MPs in West Bengal, Praveen Kumar alleged.

Such was the state of affairs in the Congress rule, when District Collectors were approached demanding cancellation of GOMs 17 pertaining to centralized tenders for supply of provisions in the residential schools, they claimed ignorance of the orders, he slammed.

Save for the Chief Minister, Rajya Sabha MP Vem Narendar Reddy, and the official, who drafted the orders, none were aware of GOMs 17, he added.