Revanth alleges huge scam in construction of Telangana Martyrs Memorial

Hyderabad, Dec.11 (Maxim News): Alleging a huge scam in in the construction of Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & MP A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday demanded a high level enquiry to expose the involvement of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his family in the embezzlement of public money.

Accompanied with AICC Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan and other senior leaders, the TPCC Chief visited the site of martyrs’ memorial to check the status of construction. Speaking to media persons later, he alleged that CM KCR escalated the cost of martyrs’ memorial from Rs. 60 Crore to Rs. 180 Crore and assigned the works to an Andhra contractor. By earmarking 6% of total cost as consultant’s fee, KCR Govt indulged in huge corruption in the name of Telangana martyrs.

“Finding flaws in the structure of the old Secretariat, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao ordered for construction of a new Secretariat building to facilitate his son K.T. Rama Rao became Chief Minister. CM KCR has so far visited the new Secretariat premises to review the status of construction. However, the Chief Minister did not visit the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial site which is at throwaway distance from the Secretariat,” he said.

Revanth said that CM KCR was quite particular on the construction aspect of the new Secretariat building. He is even suggesting which granite stones should be used in the building. He violated several environmental laws to hasten up the construction so as to complete the structure by next Dussehra. But KCR did not exhibit the same enthusiasm in the construction of Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial, he said.

The TPCC President said that GO No. 339 was issued on June 17, 2017 for the construction of Martyrs’ Memorial at an estimated cost of Rs. 80 crore. But the tenders were called only after a year on June 26, 2018. M/s Tanikella Integrated Consultants Pvt. Ltd was hired as consultant and a fee of 6% of total project cost was fixed. The government declared that the memorial would also house a museum and a library. The agreement for the construction of martyrs’ memorial was signed on September 14, 2018. But the cost of construction was escalated to Rs. 180 crore.

The tender was awarded to Andhra company KPC Project Limited or ‘Kamishetti Pullaiah Company’. He said that the company owned by Poddtur Shetty of Andhra had no experience and it got the tender based on false certificates.

As per the original agreement and the extension given later, he said that the construction should’ve been completed by December 31 this year. But as of today, not even 50% of the construction has been completed. Even after spending Rs. 110 crore, there is no clarity on when the memorial would be ready for opening.

“KCR had accused Andhra contractors of robbing Telangana. But now KCR himself is assigning all big projects to Andhra contractors to get huge commission,” he said adding that a DNA test should be conducted on KCR to ascertain whether he genuinely belongs to Telangana.

He alleged that Minister KTR and his friend Sridhar Ray were behind the huge scam in the construction of Martyrs’ Memorial. He demanded a high-level probe into the scame. He asked TRS Govt to clarify on the reasons for delay in execution of the project and why the works were assigned to an Andhra contractor.

“After the formation of Telangana, CM KCR gave three major assurances to the families of martyrs. Each family was promised a government job, financial assistance of Rs. 10 lakh, 2BHK houses and 3-5 acres of cultivable land. It was also announced that a world-class memorial will be constructed in Hyderabad to pay tributes to hundreds of martyrs who laid down their lives for the statehood cause. However, even after seven years, none of the promises have been honoured,” he said. He said more than 2,000 people sacrificed their lives for the statehood cause. But the TRS Govt gave financial assistance to only 503 families. KCR insulted the Telangana martyrs by saying that the whereabouts of other martyrs were not known.

He also gave a call for social boycott of KCR family for allegedly swindling money in the name of Telangana martyrs.

Meanwhile, AICC Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan slammed the TRS Govt for completely neglecting the welfare of Telangana martyrs’ families. As against over 1200 martyrs, a few benefits were extended to just 500 families. He accused KCR of disrespecting the martyrs’ by treating their families as beggars. (Maxim News)

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