Leaseholders owe TS govt over Rs. 235 cr; Pantaloons alone owes Rs. 171.88 cr

Hyderabad: According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit of Telangana tourism public-private sector partnership projects (PPP), leaseholders owe more than Rs. 235.00 crores to the government.

The audit was conducted from 17 November 2020 to 9 December 2020.

As per the CAG report, Pantaloons near Old Gandhi Medical College owes the highest amount, Rs. 171.88 crore followed by Jalvihar which owes Rs. 33.81 crore. Prasad IMAX, Expotel Hotel in Lower Tank Bund, Snow World, Daspalla Hotel (main and annex), and Secunderabad golf course also owe money to the government.

Telangana tourism has leased valuable government lands under PPP for 33 years to develop tourism projects in Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

AICC member Bakka Judson alleged that all PPP leaseholders put together owe more than Rs. 300 crore in outstanding lease rental to the state government. "Trident Hotel which is leased by Shilparmam owes another Rs. 75 crore to the government," he said.

Judson further said that he had filed a complaint with CM KCR and director-general of vigilance Anjani Kumar 24 January 2022 asking them to take necessary steps to recover the outstanding amounts from the leaseholders and book the officials of Telangana tourism for their monumental blunder. However, the complaint was redirected to the tourism department.

"How could the officials of the CMO and the vigilance department transfer my complaint to the same department against which I complained? Telangana tourism officials are solely responsible for the outstanding lease rentals of more than Rs. 300 crore," he added.

"When I tried to meet Narsing Rao, the principal secretary, and Bhoopal Reddy, special secretary to CM, on 6 April, the personal staff in the CMO stopped me from meeting them," he alleged.

Mr. Judson alleged that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the staff working in the PMU section of the tourism department under the direction and guidance of successive secretaries.

"When the PPP leaseholders owe so many crores to the government, why did the tourism department not cancel the lease agreements of these PPP projects for years? The PMU section of Telangana tourism, to date, is manned by retired persons who are helping PPP project leaseholders instead of the government which is paying them salaries in their winter of life," he added.

He requested the government to appoint a sitting judge to inquire into the lease rental scam in Telangana tourism and punish the officials responsible for the outstanding dues of more than Rs. 300 crores.