What is Amruth Tender Scam: The BRS version

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao has raised another flag of alleged corruption in the Congress Government. He claimed that a multi-crore project has been allocated to chief minister Revanth Reddy's brother-in-law’s company.

BRS version of 'Amruth Tender Scam'

The BRS party released points detailing the allegations they claim occurred in the Amruth Tender Scam:

Tenders for water and sewerage projects in 26 municipalities

- Within one to two months of taking office, tenders were called for municipal department works.

- The tenders called for were worth approximately Rs 9,000 crores for drinking water and sewerage projects in 26 municipalities.

Favourable and family-owned companies given work

- The tender process concluded on February 6 this year and the companies associated with CM Revanth Reddy were given the contracts through unethical means.

Lack of transparency in announcements

- The government did not publish any information related to these tenders on any official websites.

- Despite the completion of the tendering process for such large-scale projects, there was no press release from the government, the BRS party claimed.

- The public was not informed about where the tenders were called, which companies secured them, or the value of the works.

Involvement of Indian Hume Pipe company

- The scam came to light because Indian Hume Pipe, a publicly listed company, had to disclose information to SEBI.

- According to their information, Indian Hume Pipe secured tenders worth Rs 1,137 crores and 80 per cent of the work was subcontracted to two other companies.

CM's brother-in-law’s company was one of the sub-contractors

- One of the sub-contracted companies is Shodha Constructions, owned by Srujan Reddy, Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law.

- Shodha Constructions, which lacked the qualifications to directly bid for the tenders, was given a joint venture share.

Shodha Constructions is not qualified

- The BRS party claimed that Shodha Constructions did not meet the financial qualifications required to bid, as its annual revenue is only Rs 71 crores.

- The party alleged that the Telangana Congress government pressured Indian Hume Pipe to bid and then transfer 80 per cent of the work to companies associated with the chief minister Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law.

Subcontracts to multiple companies

- Apart from Shodha Constructions, the party claimed that the Rs 9,000-crore tenders involved multiple subcontracts given to companies linked to Revanth Reddy’s family and associates.

Violation of corruption laws and misuse of public office

- The chief minister’s involvement in awarding tenders to his family members violated the Prevention of Corruption Act, the BRS party claimed. Violation of the said act is a punishable offence to Sections 7, 9, and 13th of the Act

- Using office power to benefit family members violated the Office of Profit laws, the party said.

Previous examples of such allegations

- The BRS listed similar scandals which allegedly led to the resignations of Sonia Gandhi (NAC), Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan (Adarsh Scam), and Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa (illegal mining scam).

- The scam will be brought to the Central Vigilance Commission’s notice.

“The corruption brought to light is just one example of the alleged large-scale scam involving hundreds of crores. If the government is transparent, it should disclose all tender details and cancel the tenders,” the BRS party stated.